Loveless
by Nilaexn
Summary: Ryou has never known what love feels like. But when the mysterious fugitive, Bakura Yabunashi, waltzes into his life, he's left torn between his life... and Bakura's. Full summary. Eventual BakuraxRyou. First 2 chap are a bit angsty, you have been warned
1. Merciless

Hello people. This is the first chapter of my new story, Loveless! It starts of with Amane, but that's ok, isn't it?

Summary: Ryou's never known what love feels like. His life has been nothing but lie after lie. But when the mysterious fugitive, Bakura Yabunashi (don't know his last name, sorry!), waltzes into his life, he's left torn between his life - and Bakura's.  
Now faced with a difficult decision, what will he do? To make matters worse, he can't remember the last four years of his life, and a shady group wants him for those memories. And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, Bakura reveals himself to be something he thought he wasn't... (A/N: A GIRL! Lol, just kidding. And you thought I wasn't:P)

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own anything! No matter how hard I imagine, it won't be mine. /Sigh/. Oh well. Maybe next time

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

**Merciless**

_See the wind blow  
__Hear the light glow  
__Love the smell of the rain  
__Taste the bitterness of pain… _

_Amane screamed as she flew against the wall, blood trickling down the small of her back. A tall figure loomed above her, smirking. He stooped down and held Amane's chin in his bony hands. He leaned in and breathed in her ear._

_"You know how to stop this," he rasped. "You know what I want. All you need to do is tell me. Tell-_ oof_."_

_Amane kneed him in the stomach and jumped up. She pointed an accusing finger at the boy. "I'll never tell you! You lie! Anyway, you won't let me live whether I do tell you or not! Demo…" she lowered her finger and her gaze. "Why do you want to know? He has nothing of any value to you."_

_The boy grimaced, then grinned, standing confidently. "As a matter of fact, you're wrong. He does have value to me. You see… They want him. They have paid me more than you've ever had in this lifetime to track him down and take him to Them. So…" he advanced on Amane. "Will you tell me?"_

_"Ne-"_

_Amane stopped, gasping. The boy had moved so that he held Amane around the waist, pinning her arms to her sides. There was a knife held at her neck and he threatened to drop her off the side of the balcony they were standing on. All in the blink of an eye._

_"Tell me. Tell me, or else I'll be forced to hurt more people. You don't want that, do you?" He cooed in her ear. "You don't want me to hurt your Mama, or your Uncle, just because you wouldn't tell me one measly thing, do you?"_

_Amane sobbed. "N-No… don't hurt them. Please… they didn't do anything to you…" she pleaded. Amane knew her position was dangerous. Just one flick of that knife and she could be dead. She knew she wasn't coming out of this alive…_

_"That's right. You don't want them to die, do you? Tell me what I want to know and I'll spare them." The boy bargained._

_"B-But… you'll hurt_ him_. I know you will. Don't hurt him… please?" Amane begged._

_The boy growled, tightening his grip on the knife. "I won't hurt him. You know I won't. I'm too good at my job to let anything happen to the boy," he lied._

_"F-Fine. I'll tell you. H-He lives five doors down. First room on the second floor. Two big windows to see into his room. Next to my room. B-But he's not there at the moment. He's on a school trip, but he'll be back tonight. He promised. Ryou doesn't break his promises," she said._

_The boy grinned. "Thank you. You have been very helpful. Oh, and by the way, I lied." He smirked._

_Amane's eye went wide._

_"And now, you die."_

_"Wait! First, tell me who you are! What do They want from my brother?" Amane screamed out._

_"Well, I suppose I could tell you that," the boy mused. "It wouldn't do any harm, seeing as you're going to die anyway. But then again, you're stalling me. So, I won't tell you."_

_The boy slashed the knife through Amane's neck. Her body went limp in his arms as she died a painful death._

_"D-Damn you…" Amane rasped out, before the shadows of death claimed her and her heart stopped beating._

_"If only I had a dollar for each time I heard that," the boy cackled wildly and threw the body off the balcony, into the street. "Know this, Amane Bakura, your fall came from me, Otogi Ryuuji! I damn you, so that your spirit will never know the peacefulness of the after-life, instead doomed to wander this world as a silent ghost, incapable of thought, feeling or speech!"_

_And with that, 10-year-old Amane Bakura passed away in the silence of the early night._

_And Otogi slinked into the shadows._

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

_"I'm home!" Ryou called out as he opened the door and stepped into a silent house._

_"Mum? Dad? Amane? Anybody home?" He sighed as he dropped his bag by the door and hung his coat up on the hooks beside him. "I guess not. Huh. I wonder where everyone went?"_

_"_I wonder where everyone went_," some one mocked from behind him._

_Ryou spun around, but no one was there._

_"Amane? Was that you?" Ryou called out nervously as he stepped out onto the street. "Nah. It was probably just some random idiot making fun of me. Again. But whe- oh my god!"_

_Ryou gasped, his eyes wide, hands covering his mouth. Lying in a crumpled heap on the ground was his sister. His poor, innocent little sister. He ran over._

_"A-Amane? W-What…? What happened?" Ryou sobbed. He picked up her hand and checked for a pulse. Nothing. No heart beat, no breath, no pulse, no nothing. She was, and always will be, dead._

_"A-Amane! No… no… why… why are you dead? Who killed you?!" Ryou screamed out into the night._

_"I did." The voice was icy and cold. Not a trace of warmth could be heard. There was only hate and malice. "And do you want to know why?"_

_Ryou spun around. Once again, no one was there. "Who's there? Who killed my sister? Show yourself! It's cowardly to hide in the shadows where people can't see you!"_

_A menacing laugh echoed in the air. Ryou turned around to see a figure step from the shadows beside him. A figure with black hair, green eyes, and an all too evil smirk._

_"You killed her!" Ryou screamed, and threw himself at Otogi (for that's who it was), hitting, kicking and biting everything and anything he could reach. Otogi, however, just laughed and shook him off._

_"Such a fragile creature is man, no?" Otogi laughed, using his foot to push Amane so that her head lolled to the side. "And she is one of the most fragile there is. Except maybe for you. Yes, I would say that you, dear Ryou, are the most fragile creature on this planet. But no worries, it'll all be over soon."_

_Otogi lunged at Ryou, curling his hands around the boy's neck. Surprised, Ryou let out a little gasp and instantly scratched at the hands, trying to pry them off his tender throat. He stumbled backwards, but Otogi wouldn't have it. He held him firmly in place, throttling the air out of his windpipes._

_"So the son pays for the sins of his father," Otogi cackled._

_"Nngh!" Desperate for air, Ryou kicked Otogi where the no man should ever be kicked. Otogi gave a hoarse cry and – after relinquishing his hold on Ryou – slunk down to the ground, winded._

_Ryou took a breath of the life giving substance, and raced back into his house. He bolted the door and thundered up the steps, into his Mother's room._

_Otogi growled, and chased after him, banging on the door with his fists._

_"MUM!"_

_Apparently, Ryou's mum hadn't been out at all, she had been sleeping soundly in her room, tired of waiting for her son to return._

_"MUM! Amane's dead and the murderer's outside trying to get me too!"_

_She jolted awake. "What?!"_

_Ryou was crying in the doorway. His silhouetted form stood shaking in the shadows. He lifted his head. "Mum, Amane's been murdered. And the killer's outside, trying to get in to get me as well," he repeated. "Mum… I'm scared. What's going to-"_

_Ryou flinched as the door was kicked open and Otogi's haunting voice floated up the stairs. "Ryou… I'm back. Did you miss me? I hope so, little Ryou."_

_Ryou blanched. "Oh god, oh god, oh god, he's here. Help us, help me, anybody, please, helphelphelphelphelp us! We're going to die, oh god I don't want to die, no don't kill us, spare us," he rambled._

_"Ryou, hush. If we don't make a noise, maybe he won't know we're in here," she said, patting the trembling boy's head._

_"Or maybe not," Otogi laughed as he stepped into the room. He held a gun in his hand, something that Ryou was sure he didn't have two minutes ago. "Aw, don't we look scared? Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit."_

_Otogi cocked his gun, took aim briefly, and fired._

_"It'll hurt a lot."_

_Ryou clenched his eyes, expecting to feel the Teflon coated bullet shoot right through his heart. But it never did. The bullet was not aimed at him. So it was aimed at…_

_Ryou's mother screamed. She crumpled to the ground, clutching her bleeding chest. She was dead within a minute._

_"Mum, no!" Ryou yelled out, steady tears trickling down his face. He crouched down next to her, and took her hand._

_Ryou's body shook with anger. He noticed that a small pocket knife lay next to his mother's hand. He grinned. Ryou turned to face the murderer standing in the room. "You killed my sister. You killed my mother. And now you want to kill me. I honestly don't know how you can live with yourself. Do you live to kill?"_

_Otogi smirked. "Pretty much. But I can live with myself. What I hate are people like you, people who think that they are the good guys, just because they have never but a gun to a man's head and shot him dead. Not everyone can do that, you know. Some people really do need to kill for a living."_

_"Excuse me, young man, but kill who?" Said a voice from behind Otogi._

_"Uncle!" Ryou gasped._

_Otogi spun around and instantly shot the person behind him. It was a fairly young man with light brown hair and brown eyes. He screamed, and crumpled to the ground, just like Ryou's mother._

_"Uncle!" Ryou yelled._

_"No…"_

_A steady stream of crystalline tears ran down Ryou's cheek and dripped onto the floor. "You killed my family. Everybody I knew. Everybody I loved. Everybody that made my life worth living. You are the lowest of the low, you evil murderer…"_

_Ryou cried out. He leapt forward and slashed at Otogi with the knife, not giving the assassin-boy a chance to shoot him. They toppled to the floor with Ryou sitting on top of the miniature assassin. "You!" Stab. "Killed!" Stab. "My!" Stab. "Mother!" Stab. "And sister!" Stab. "And uncle!"_

_Ryou broke into tears again and rolled of the boy. He was covered in blood, dirt and saline tears._

_Otogi had been pushed too far to the edge of death. He was fading away, just like his many victims._ So this is what death feels like_, he thought._

"Ry-Ryou…" he wheezed.

_"What? What the fuck do you want? Haven't you caused enough damage and pain already? Just get the fuck out of my life, you son of a-"_

_"Ry-Ryou… Gome-nnasai. I-I'm sorry I-I was th-the one t-to cause y-you so much… nngh!... hurt… I-I truly am… sorry," Otogi coughed blood. His last words were begging forgiveness._

_Ryou turned away. He couldn't bear to look at him. He couldn't bear to think that he had killed a man. Whether or not that man was evil no longer mattered. He was tainted. He himself was no longer pure. He was evil._

_"O-Oh god, I killed him. I killed him. IkilledhimIkilledhimIkilledhim…"_

_And with that, 16-year-old Otogi Ryuuji passed away._

_And the person who was once known as Ryou went with him._

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Ryou jolted awake, beads of sweat running down his face, mingling with a few lonely tears. He wiped them away, angry at himself for showing such a weakness.

He sighed and checked the clock on the drawer beside him. 2:37am. It was two fucking thirty in the morning. Disgruntled, he crawled out of bed and headed towards his dresser. After a memory/dream as vivid as that, there was no way in hell he was going to get back to sleep.

Ryou sighed again as he pulled on some random clothes. It had been almost four years since his family had died, and he couldn't remember anything from after that incident up until two months ago. He had been to the doctors – about twenty different ones, in fact – but none of them knew why he couldn't remember anything. Of course, he didn't tell them about his family. As far as they were concerned, they had left him to fend for himself.

But that wasn't true. They were indeed murdered by the mysterious assassin who had begged forgiveness. He had indeed killed that assassin in a fit of desperation, anger, hurt and pain. He was indeed fully alone. But, of course, he didn't know what happened to Amane.

He just hoped she had tried to defend him in whatever happened between her and the boy.

Ryou trudged into the kitchen and grabbed himself an apple from the fruit basket on the counter-top. He had to move after the incident. He would have stayed, except for that the police came sniffing around. It was quite suspicious for a boy his age to survive a mass murder like that, unless, of course, he was the murderer.

And no matter how much he begged and pleaded and cried, he still looked responsible. So he moved far away and lived like a hermit. Only going out for school, groceries, work, and the occasional walk around. He had no friends, no contacts, no outer communication at all.

He was fading away, day by day. And when he finally disappeared, nobody would care. Except maybe for Anzu and her cronies. They would have to find someone new to pick on.

Sighing, he grabbed his coat and walked out the door. Time for a morning walk to mull his thoughts around a bit.

He shivered as the cold air hit his pale skin. It was dark outside. Darker than it usually was at this time in the morning, he mused as he locked his front door and set off down the footpath.

Yes, it was early, but it was never really dark enough for him to not be able to see over 20 meters in front of him. But now he could barely see his own feet. Ryou thought about going back to fetch a torch, but decided against it. It was nice to walk around in the dark, with the air whistling through your hair and for everything to be silent. It was a rare sight in his street. A sight that he would have to see more often.

_I wonder if anything interesting is going to happen today…_ he thought, but didn't really care whether anything interesting did happen or not. He had stopped caring all those years ago, when he lost his only contact to love he had.

Yes, he was a lonely, pitiful boy. He was spat on like dirt, like nothing, and the people at school did nothing to help. Although many of the girls liked him, and so did a lot of the boys, he never felt truly loved by any of them. It was only lust in their eyes. He knew it, and so did everyone else. This was why he tended to dislike people.

Ryou turned the corner and wandered down the road. His feet always carried him wherever his heart felt like going, seeing as he never really paid attention to where he was going. Not that his heart felt very special at the moment.

No, his heart felt lonely. It ached for love, to be loved, to feel loved, to have a reason to love. But he didn't think he ever would get the satisfaction of feeling any of those. He would never again feel the sensation of being loved. He would never know the feeling of happiness that came from knowing some really did care whether you were alive or not. His last chance had been with his family. But now they were gone too.

He was, simply put, unloved.

Nobody cared what he learned at school. Nobody cared if he passed his exams or not. Nobody cared if he tripped and grazed his knee. Nobody was there to kiss his wounds better. The wounds of the seemingly endless day.

But the emotional scars are always far worse than any physical pain.

Ryou should know. He had felt more than his share of emotional pain, and the world was spewing more at him. The Earth was a cruel place to live on.

And his life didn't seem to be worth living at the moment. Not that it ever had in the last four years. Not that it ever would.

A scream pierced the air, shaking Ryou from his reverie. His heart sped up a few beats. He never again wanted to see or hear anyone die. He never again wanted to feel the pain that came from seeing someone die.

But hearing it and letting it go one felt much worse to him. It was worse than actually facing death himself. Because he didn't want anyone to die, not when he could've stopped it, or delayed it.

So Ryou raced to the source of the voice.

Another scream echoed through the silent air, and Ryou picked up the pace, running faster. He skidded to a halt in front of a dark alley way. _Oh, what a cliché__this is_.

Ryou ran without hesitating. He knew that hesitating could be the worst mistake of his life, or of someone else's.

So he ran blindly into the dark, his eyes darting back and forwards, searching for anything suspicious.

He soon came to the source of the voice. There, slumped against a couple of rubbish bins, sat the sorry form of a boy about his age. He had snow-white hair, tattered clothes and scars all over his face and arms. Standing over him was another boy. He had brown hair and was wearing the uniform of Ryou's school. The boy was about to kick the other in the ribs.

"Stop!" Ryou yelled, running at the boy and pulling his shoulders back. The boy fell backwards, almost falling on Ryou, but Ryou jumped out of the way. "Don't hurt him!"

The boy snarled, grabbing Ryou's ankle and tripping him up. He then jumped up and loomed over Ryou.

"Who are you and what do you think you're doing? This boy badmouthed me, do you think I'm just going to let him get away with that? Do you even know who I am?" The voice was scratchy and harsh.

Ryou narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on the boy in front of him. Then gasped. "Honda!" He yelled.

Honda was the school bully. He had the teachers wrapped around his middle finger, and the council around his pinky. Everyone was too scared of him to do anything about the problem. Until now, that is.

"That's right. And no one messes with Hiroto Honda!" He gave Ryou a kick in the ribs, and he cried out. "So you just lie there quietly while I beat the crap out of this dude. I'll deal with you after I've dealt with him." He promised.

"N-No…" _I will not lie quietly and watch someone else get harmed!_

Ryou struggled to a stand, and held onto a crate for support. He stepped forward, and stepped on something. He looked down, and an idea formed in his head. _Perfect_. It was a beer bottle. A _glass_ beer bottle, made up of easily breakable _glass._

The figure cried out as he was kicked again, blood trickling down the side of his body. He gave one final glare at his attacker before slumping into unconsciousness.

Ryou yelled as he lunged forwards, holding the bottle high. A very big mistake. His yell alerted Honda to his presence, and gave him time to turn and dodge Ryou's pitiful attack. Honda spun around, and punched Ryou in the stomach.

Winded, Ryou staggered back a few paced, but would not be distracted from his goal – to get Honda as far away from this boy as possible. He knew how it felt to be on the wrong side of Honda's tantrums. It was not fun. Not fun at all.

So, with tears of pain slightly clouding his vision, he threw the bottle at Honda with all the strength in his skinny little arms. Which is a lot, let me tell you. The bottle found it's target. It collided with Honda's forehead, where it broke into two pieces, then fell to the ground where it completely shattered.

Taken by surprise, Honda staggered back, gave a little spin for show, then fell on top of the unconscious boy, and didn't get back up.

Ryou sighed in relief. One less person to worry about. In the heat of the short-lived fight, he had almost forgotten about the other boy. Almost, but not quite. He could never forget someone in need, and vowed that he never would so long as he still had breath left to fight.

So he staggered over to where the two boys lay unconscious. He pushed Honda away and surveyed the other boy, checking for damage. He didn't look too bad – a few cuts and bruises, but nothing bad enough to go to the hospital for.

Ryou sighed again. _How do I get myself into these messes?_ He thought as he heaved the boy onto his shoulders and started the long walk back home

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Ryou sat on his bed, staring intently at his arm. There, scratched in red, was a word. A single word, with fancy decorations around it. That single word summarized his life. Imagine – his whole life summarized in one word. Of course, it didn't make him feel very good. But he didn't mind. Not a bit. He was used to it.

And exactly what is this word? Well, none other than "Loveless," of course.

It was a fitting word. He could not love. He had nobody to love. No one loved him. He could not feel love. He had no reason to love. No reason to life, but no reason to die. He never wanted to forget. Never wanted to forget how to love. How it felt to be loved. How it felt to love. But it was too late. He had forgotten.

He had forgotten his love. He had forgotten his life.

He was, in summary, unloved. He was spat on like vermin. To many people, he _was _vermin. But that's what other people thought. He didn't care about that. But he did care about how Amane felt.

Yes, Amane was dead, but so what? He still wrote to her every day. He poured out all the emotions he had kept hidden and wrote them on a simple piece of paper as a simple letter. Then he locked it away in the small box in the wardrobe, so no one could find it. So no one could find his weakness, and use it against him. Nobody would do that again. He learnt his lesson the first time.

He learnt many lessons. All those years ago, he learnt never to judge someone by their first actions. He learnt to never be afraid in the face of death. He learnt to act when people need help, and not just stand by and watch. He learnt that life is precious, yet everybody takes it for granted.

But the day he learnt this, he lost so much else. He lost the knowledge of love, to be loved, to feel love, and to feel loved. He lost his contact to people, the kindness they brought. He lost things worth far more than his own life. He was a shell of his former self, and never wanted to feel the pain of losing someone again.

For the scars of losing someone close to you run much more deep than those of physical pain. The run to the roots of your very heart, body and soul. They ruined your life, no matter how much time you had to heal.

Some people move on, saying that they are probably happier wherever they are. The forget about them and continue to live their normal lives. But others don't. They never heal. They choose to dwell on the past, intent on fading away, on regaining their lost lives. Their lost memories.

To most, memories are not enough to keep them going. They need human contact. They crave for it like a child craves it's mother. They are dependant on others. But to Ryou, his memories are his life. He lives in his own little world, surrounded by his memories, for nobody would – or could, as a matter of fact – show him the life that lay barely five steps away.

But even his memories betrayed him, for he forgot. He forgot what his life was once like – both before and after the incident. He had forgotten his sister's sweet voice, his mother's warm scent, his father's words of praise, his uncles words of wisdom. He would give anything to bring them back, and go back to the life he once had

But Ryou knew would that life would never be for him. He knew he did not fit in with the others. He knew his inability to love was what set him apart from all the others.

Ryou would often watch happy couples walk past his window, full of happiness and joy. Full of life. Full of love. He despised them for this. For their ability to love. For their ability to torture him, and call it love. But their love was different. It was tainted. It was evil.

It wasn't that much different from him. He was evil. He was tainted. He had killed. The memory of Otogi Ryuuji would always haunt his fears. Just like it would for any other murderer. They lived their lives guiltily, knowing that they had robbed someone else of the opportunity to live. Their chance to achieve. Their chance to fulfill their dreams. Dreams that would never be, thanks to them.

Ryou buried his head in his arms. He was indeed loveless. He would never again know the happiness that came from someone else's love. The happiness that came from their warmth… their comfort…

Ryou sighed. It was not good to dwell on those thoughts. To feel them and dream them was bad enough without thinking about them every waking moment.

Besides, he needed to check on the boy

_I wonder where he's from…_ Ryou mused as he walked out of his room and went to the bathroom to get a cloth and wash away some of the grime on the boy. _He looked so… filthy… yet familiar…_

He did indeed look familiar to Ryou, yet he couldn't place where he could've seen him. It wouldn't have been in town, since he rarely ever went. It wouldn't have been in the newspaper, since he didn't get one. It wouldn't have been from school, or else he would have remembered. So… where?

Ryou sighed. Better to ask him when he woke up.

He walked into the lounge, humming some random song, then stopped. The boy was gone. He was no longer lying on his second-hand couch. He spun around…

…To see the barrel of a gun pointing straight at his chest.

"Do not move, or I will shoot," said the boy.

The gears in Ryou's brain were turning. He gasped, and dropped the towel he was holding. He remembered where he knew this boy from. He was on the news.

His name was Bakura Yabunashi.

He had murdered his parents.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Omg, Ryou cussed! Naughty, naughty Ryou!

Well, there goes the first chapter! Please go to the indigo coloured button and review me! Reviews make me write faster... n.n


	2. Dreamless

It's chapter twoooo! Yes, two! Um... hooray for me?

Yeah... ALSO, I just thought of something, can anybody make the title stand for something? Like, you know, how lol stands for laugh out loud? I've thought of one, it isn't very good but here goes:

**L**osing  
**O**ur  
**V**aporescent (hey, do you know a good word starting with V?)  
**E**ntity,  
**L**osing  
**E**very  
**S**ingle  
**S**econd

There goes an example. It's not the greatest, but hey. So anyway, enough of my ranting, on with the story!

DISCLAIMER: Me no own YuGiOh!, it belongs to Kazuki Takahashi and the people of 4Kids... I think 4Kids stuffed it up... But I do own the random people that keep popping up and no one knows their name... but that's cause no one likes them, right! Right? Whatever, who cares?

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

**Dreamless**

_Searching for hope  
__Looking for love  
__Falling into the dark  
__So helplessly… _

The two stood there, speechless, unmoving, unthinking. Bakura growled, his tail twitching. Wait – tail? Ryou looked up, and gasped when he saw two little furry ears perched on top of Bakura's head. He didn't notice that when he dragged him inside. How could he not notice something like that?!

"I said, don't move!" Bakura hissed, letting off two warning shots next to Ryou's head. "Now tell me; who are you and where am I?"

Ryou gave a little squeak before answering. "I-I'm Ryou. Ryou Bakura. And you're in my house. I dragged you here after the fight with H-Honda…"

He grunted "Oh yeah. That's right. Well, I'm leaving now. You will not tell anyone I came here, or I will come back. Understand?" Bakura informed, backing slowly out the door, his gun never wavering from it's target.

Ryou nodded quietly.

"Good boy." The white-haired cat-boy-thing gave him a crooked smile. "Now that wasn't so – _nngh!_" Bakura gasped, clutching his chest and crumpled to the floor. A pained expression crossed his face as a shocked Ryou ran over, crouching down next to him.

"Are you ok? Ohmigod, you're chest is bleeding! Move your hand so I can see…" Ryou moved Bakura's hand and studied his chest. "Ooh, I see a bullet. Luckily, I can get it out coz it's not that deep – don't look at me like that, I have a doctor's degree, you know – and it's missed all your major organs and all that. Here, let me…" he stood to retrieve something, but stopped as Bakura grabbed his arm.

"Why are you doing this? I mean, I've done nothing to earn your trust, or your help. I mean, I could've just shot you and let you bleed to death in this hell-hole we call the Earth!" Bakura blasted out, taking Ryou by surprise.

He was lying, and Ryou knew it. He could just tell by looking at him that Bakura was no murderer. He would never have let Ryou die at his hands. Ryou didn't know how he knew, he just did, and that's what mattered.

Ryou gave a small, sad smile, sitting down cross-legged on the worn-out carpet. "Well, the fact that you _didn't _shoot me is a good enough reason to me. Anyway, I've learned from experience to not judge people by first impression. First impressions suck, if you ask me. And I can't just leave you there, you'll bleed to death otherwise. I don't think anyone wants you to die, silly," he giggled, standing up.

"Except for _Tenshi no Tsuki(1), _that is," Bakura muttered.

Ryou stopped, frowning. The name seemed familiar to him, but he didn't know why. He shivered. The name radiated pain and fear, despite it's angelic appearance (pardon the pun (A/N: what's a pun?)). "What did you say?"

Bakura jolted, realizing his mistake. "Ah… nothing. Nothing at all."

Ryou frowned, noticing the dismissal and harshness in his voice. The rare moment of happiness had passed, so he sighed, standing up. "If you say so…" he dragged off.

At that moment, Bakura felt an immense wave of sadness and hurt roll over him. Feelings that weren't his. He sighed. "Look, kid, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings or anything like that. It's just that… well, I've never really had anybody care whether I'm OK or not. So… I suppose I'll just sit back, shut up, and let you do what ever the hell it is you want to do."

Ryou laughed humorlessly. "Whatever," he said bitterly, stalking off to the bathroom.

Bakura hung his head sadly. He was truly sorry. He had never meant to hurt his feelings, not at all. And all Ryou did was laugh it off and say 'whatever.'

He knew Ryou hadn't always been like that. He knew that Ryou had once been a buoyant and optimistic little boy. He remembered – even if Ryou didn't – that he had been there for him when he had lost his parents.

Ryou had died that day. He had died – and was reborn as a new person. An unfeeling, unhappy creature devoid of all emotions. And Bakura had been there to whisper words of comfort into his ear, to wrap his arms around him, to rock him to sleep.

He was there when no one else was.

But Ryou didn't remember. And he never would if he didn't get his memories back soon. After all the boy had been through, Bakura felt he deserved that much. For one, his memories were his new life. His life wouldn't be full if his memories weren't full.

It was then that Bakura knew what he had to do. He had to help Ryou regain his lost memories – whatever the cost. And he would start with what he knew, which wasn't really that much in the overall picture, but it would have to do – to start with.

Bakura was broken from his reverie as Ryou waltzed back into the room, his arms laden with stuff. Bakura looked skeptically at a few of the items, and asked, "Is all of that really necessary?"

Ryou blushed. "Actually, no. I don't even need most of it, it just looks impressive…" he admitted.

Bakura laughed. It was a funny laugh, more of a bark, really, but a laugh all the same. He was happy that Ryou was no longer feeling bitter towards him. An angry Ryou was a scary Ryou.

Said boy grimaced. "Stop laughing at me. I know you're laughing at me, stop it, it's not nice. Now lie down, I need to clean the wound, and do all that other stuff, then get the bullet out with a pair of tweezers. You know, you seem incredibly calm for someone with a bullet lodged in them…" he mused.

"Well, I suppose I'm just an incredible person!"

The whitenette rolled his eyes. "Mhm. Now lie down and shut up, I need to concentrate!" He snapped, pushing Bakura lightly on the shoulders.

Bakura gave an exaggerated sigh and lay down, letting Ryou do his stuff.

"Oh yeah, and you need to take off that shirt."

He eyed him suspiciously. "Why?"

Ryou rolled his eyes. "So I can see the bullet properly and get that out, and not accidentally pull out some muscles." He said. He gave an exasperated sigh when he saw that Bakura wasn't moving. "Look, it's not like I'm going to rape you or something. Now get – it – off!"

He tugged at the hem of the shirt, and Bakura gave in. He pulled the top off, but put it within arms reach. Just in case.

"Not taking any chances, I see. Not that it matters. Now, to work!"

And so he did. Ryou cleaned the wound with some antiseptic (at which Bakura protested heavily, saying that it hurt too much. Ryou countered by pointing out that if he didn't, he wouldn't be able to get the bullet out, and that hurts much more than antiseptic). He then grabbed a pair of tweezers, slid them in cautiously, careful not to disturb them muscle tissue and nerve fibers.

As Ryou had said, the bullet wasn't in that far. In fact, if Bakura really tried, he could probably have dug it out with his fingers. Except for that he probably would have done it wrong, and bleed to death before he could actually get the bullet out.

So Ryou clamped the tweezers around the piece of metal and pulled it out. He plopped it onto a piece of newspaper – along with the tweezers – clapped his hands and said "Done!"

Bakura looked at him in disbelief. "Is that it?"

"Well, no, I'm not done yet, I still have to put some bandages on you. But apart from that, yeah, I got the bullet out." He said, reaching for said bandages.

The older of the white-haired males started to poke at the little hole in his chest. Ryou slapped him in the hand. "Don't do that, silly! You'll make it bleed more than it has to."

"Killjoy," he grumbled.

Ryou pouted. "I am not a killjoy, you're just a masochistic psychopath who happens to have a miniature hole in him. Now sit up so I can wrap these bandages around you. No – don't do that!" He exclaimed as Bakura pushed him away, snarling.

"Come any closer and I'll mutilate you," he growled menacingly.

The smaller of the two took that comment to heart. He went through various emotions – first shock, then pity, then anger, then finally sorrow. He was a mysterious person, Ryou was.

"W-What?"

A wave of confusion passed over Bakura's face, and he had to lie down. A couple of seconds later, he sat back up and faced Ryou again. "I'm sorry. I have… multiple personalities, if you can call it that. It happens a lot."

Ryou was confused for a moment, then realization hit him and he gave a big, long 'Ooooooh!' sigh. "I see! Well, it's not that bad. Just one more weird thing in my life to add to the accumulative pile. Now let me wash that and get rid of any excess blood. _Then _I can put the bandages on."

"But why waste all of the pretty red liquid?" Bakura said affectionately, wiping some of the blood with his finger and licking it up. "It tastes so gooooooood! Want some?" He waved his finger in front of Ryou's face, who pulled back in disgust.

"Um… no thanks." He quickly grabbed the wet cloth next to him and started to wash the blood and muck off Bakura's chest.

Said person gave an almost inaudible moan. Ryou blushed, and pretended he didn't hear anything. Nope, his innocent ears did _not _hear what his mind thought they heard.

He made quick work of the bandages. Before he knew it, the bandages were wrapped around Bakura's torso, and Ryou started to collect up all of the stuff he had used.

An outsider would think that Ryou was starting to love the other white-haired male, but they were wrong. Ryou felt uncomfortable around Bakura. There was a part of his mind that didn't trust him, no matter how much the rest of his mind tried to convince him he was perfectly safe. There was that little niggling feeling inside of him that said there was so much to more to Bakura than he first thought.

And he was right, of course. There were the tails and ears – something that he'd have to ask about at a later date. His personality was another thing. I mean, at first he was a hostile little dick, then he seemed to trust him enough to let him get the bullet out, then he goes and pushes him away. Bakura confused him. Why did everything in his life demand to be confusing? It wasn't fair. But he was used to it. The world was just a shit place to live in.

Bakura yawned. "Tired?" Ryou asked.

He nodded.

"That room over there," he pointed to a room to the far left of them, "is the spare room. There's a bed in there, make yourself at home. Don't worry, it's not like a bed made out of spikes, or anything. That would be rude! And you're free to leave when you wake up in the morning, if you want. Or you could hang around for breakfast. Whatever, I don't mind."

"O-Ok," he yawned again, trudging off to the room after grabbing his top and pulling it back on. "G'Night, Ryou. And thanks… for not letting me die."

Ryou smiled. A genuinely happy smile. It had been a long time since he had smiled like that, and it felt weird on his face. Like a foreign sort of feeling. But it felt good to him.

"Don't mention it," he said as he abandoned the fruitless task of trying to gather up all the equipment and just hauled himself to his room where he jumped into bed (fully-clothed, mind you) and fell dead asleep.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

_He panted heavily as he ran, running through the seemingly endless darkness. He couldn't see anything. The corridor ahead of him was pitch black. All he could hear was his ragged breath and the pounding of his footsteps upon the marble floor._

_Hmph. Marble. He had never liked marble. He didn't know why, it had done nothing to bother him, but he disliked it all the same. Maybe it was because it was a fashioned up version of limestone. A 'better' version._

_He growled. He never liked the way that most people tried to make things 'better' than how they already were. Like what they were trying to do to him!_

_He flicked his tail angrily. How dare they just assume that they could go and rearrange his molecules, then expect him to just do whatever they command him to! He wasn't a mindless doll, dammit! He knew unfairness when he saw it!_

_Just then, his ears twitched as they picked up movement down the hallway. The ears irritated him greatly. He had still to get used to it, even though it had been almost two and a half years since he had 'acquired' them._

_So he ran down the seemingly empty hallway, his sharp eyes on the lookout for any of Them. Even though it was silent as the grave, Ryou was not fooled. He knew how silent the people here could be. He also knew how nasty they could get when aggravated. It was not nice. It was a bloody mess. Emphasis on 'bloody'._

_Ryou squeaked as a tail wrapped itself around his abdomen and pulled him into the air. He scratched and bit it until he was smacked around the head._

"_Now, now, is that any way to treat your superior?"_

_He tensed as he heard the words whispered in his ears, and resumed his struggling. "Get your filthy hands off of me! You hear me, you freaking bastard! I HATE you!" He screamed out._

_The person tutted. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You won't say that in a coupla weeks time. You'll be thanking me, little Ryou. You see, the _neko _features are a gift that only a few get. But you'll lose them when you get… active… So let's lose those ears, ne?_(2)_"_

_Ryou's eyes widened further than anyone thought possible. "No, NO! You slutty pervert! I don't wanna! I said I DON"T WANNA!" He screamed as he finally tore from the person's grip and streaked down the hallway._

_Tears streaked his eyes. Ryou knew what he had to do to lose the ears, but there was no way he was losing his virginity over a couple of ears! Plus, he rather liked the furry cat features, even if they were a bit annoying at times. They made him unique. But in this place, unique was bad. All 'unique' was going to do was get you a clip 'round the ears and a boot up the pants. Literally._

_He grimaced. All the people here were idiots! They treated him like crap, and he had had enough of it. He'd had enough of being treated like he was inferior to everybody else. Damn these people and their stupid superiority-complex! The only person who acted at least a little civilly was-_

_Alarm bells went off inside his head as he crashed into someone, while that someone wrapped their arms around him tightly. He struggled from the iron grip, but could get nowhere._

"_No!"_

"_Hush, Ryou, and stop struggling." The voice was harsh, and not filled with lust and greed like the others. Ryou looked up and gasped. "Bakura!"_

_The person – Bakura – growled, tightening his hold on Ryou. Said boy wrapped his arms around Bakura's waist, snuggling his face in his chest. " 'Kura… The scary people are after me again! I'm scared…"_

_His ears twitched again as he heard the familiar pattering of feet echo down the hallway. He cried in terror and tried to make himself sink into Bakura, be as invisible as possible. Sadly, it didn't quite work._

_The man, whoever it was, smirked as he rounded the corner to see his prey snuggled up in the embrace of the taller white-haired male._

"_Bakura. How lovely to see you. Hand over the boy, I have orders and I plan to follow them. You know he's to be let go tomorrow, and we don't want him waking up with the neko features still intact." The man talked as if Ryou wasn't there, as if he was nothing but an object to dispose of. And in the eyes of Them, that's all he was._

_Bakura growled, his own tail twitching ominously. "Traditional or unorthodox?"_

_The man smirked. "Traditional."_

_Ryou's eyes widened, and he struggled in Bakura's grasp. "No! You can't let him do that! You can't! Bakura, I don't want to do it that way!"_

_A growl omitted from the pit of Bakura's stomach, at which the man backed up a few steps. No one, and I mean NO ONE, messed with Bakura. He was the top of the tops, the Boss's right-hand man. "You will inform the Boss that I have ordered you to go with unorthodox, unless you want me to chop off something veeery important to you."_

_The man's eyes widened, then narrowed, and he gave a swift nod. "Fine, fine. I suppose I don't have a choice in the matter, do I? Just hurry up and hand him over," he said, his hand twitching expectantly._

_Bakura leaned down and gave Ryou a small peck on the top of his head. "I'm sorry, Ryou, but it cannot be helped." He said as he grudgingly handed the boy over to the over-excited man._

"_No, NO! Bakura, you can't! No, I don't want to forget! I don't want to forget you, or anything else! No! They'll make me forget! Please, 'Kura!" Ryou screamed as the man began to drag him away._

_Bakura bowed his head, not looking at Ryou. Not looking at anything. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to have witnessed that. A small tear dripped from his cheek to the ground, before he hastily wiped his eyes and stalked off._

"_Bakura…?"_

_And then – silence. _

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Ryou screamed as he jolted awake in his bed, a few beads of sweat running down his forehead.

His brows furrowed in concentration and confusion. What was that dream about? Why was Bakura in it? There were so many questions running through his mind, like, did he have cat ears too?

He checked his head. Nope, definitely no fuzzy little ears there.

But the more he concentrated, the more he tried to think about it, the less he remembered. The dream was slipping away from him, and soon, it was gone. He was left confused about what he had been trying to remember. There was a niggling feeling that it was very important, but his mind let it go as paranoia. Not that he was paranoid. Not a bit!

Ryou laughed nervously as he jumped out of bed and trudged over to the little bathroom next to his room. He needed a shower badly, he was still in his clothes from yesterday, and he was covered in blood and other stuff. Yup, he definitely needed a shower.

He yawned as he climbed into the smallish shower, the water cascading down his back.

Little did he know, Bakura was having the same problems as him.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

_There was no movement in his body. Then – a twitch._

_Bakura groaned as he sat up, clutching his aching head. He had a freaking jackhammer pounding in his head, and it wasn't because of the drinking and he knew it. He hardly ever drank anymore, seeing as there wasn't really any need to do so anymore. Plus, he had run out of money a couple of months ago._

_None of this bothered him. It was nothing new in his abused life. But the fact that there was a gun pointing at him bothered him. It bothered him a lot._

_Suddenly, his mind snapped back into the present and he gasped, jumping up. No, no, no, no, no! He swiped at the gun, but missed by a long shot. He stumbled forwards, and tumbled to the ground._

_The person holding the gun just laughed. And laughed. He had a long trench coat on, and shadows obscured his face._

_Dammit, you stupid shadows, he thought. You're supposed to help me, not hide the truth from me!_

"_Well, well, well, Bakura… look what separation from the Clan has done to you. Your senses have been weakened, little 'Kura. And that weakness will be your demise. Good bye, old friend."_

_Bakura grimaced, clenching his teeth as the man squeezed the trigger. But the blast never came. He looked up to see the mutilated form the man standing there. His head had been ripped off and chucked two feet away. His body had huge gaping holes in them and Bakura could see right through them. His horror-struck face saw right through the body – to another figure standing behind the man._

"_Wh-Who are you?" He gulped, trying not to show his fear._

_Standing there was a boy, about a year younger than him. His clothes – a blue-white striped top and plain blue jeans – were bloody and mangled, hanging off his shoulder loosely. His head was drooped forward slightly, dirty-white hair flopping over his face. There were a pair of fuzzy ears on his head, and a tail swishing behind him, just like Bakura's. He also thought he could see the drooping form of a broken wing handing from his back, but he shook his head and it was gone._

_Then, the boy lifted his head and Bakura gasped. "R-Ryou? Did you do this?"_

'_Ryou' opened his mouth to speak, but the voice that answered him was definitely not Ryou's. "Foolish mortal, what are you doing here? Do you not know of the sacredness of this place? Leave – you have defiled this place enough."_

_From what Bakura could see, 'this place' was nothing but a run-down shed. Had Ryou gone mad? There was no way in hell that this place was sacred. Absolutely no way at all._

_Nevertheless, he got to his feet and started to flee from the room. But not before the broken sobs that came from Ryou reached his ears. He spun around, and sure enough, there was Ryou, down on his knees, sobbing his little heart out._

_Slightly uneasy, he walked over to the crying boy, knelt down beside him and pushed his head up. What he saw surprised him. He saw not the innocent, brown eyes of the Ryou he knew, but deep black holes of emptiness… hopelessness… Nothing in his eyes suggested the warmth they once held, the comfort they once offered, the spark of life they once had…_

"_Ryou… why are you crying?" Bakura asked._

_He was answered by a toneless voice. The voice – Bakura recognized – to one that had lost all willingness to live. All willingness to be happy. All willingness to make others happy. "I… don't know. These feelings… they aren't mine. 'Kura, make them go away! 'Kura, no! Don't leave me!"_

_Ryou gasped, holding Bakura close as if he was being ripped away._

" '_Kura… I-I… I think I… I think I killed them… But it wasn't me! I swear, it wasn't me! It's like there's someone else inside of me, Bakura. It's tearing me apart!" He sobbed openly on his shoulder. Then gasped, pushed him away and added silently, "H-He wants me to kill you, 'Kura. I don't want to kill! I don't want to become a murderer! No…"_

_Bakura brought him closer. It was unfair that he should suffer like this. Ryou didn't deserve to suffer. He deserved to live freely, like his mother had wished him to. She had wished for them both to live freely, even though Bakura had acted rashly towards her, saying that he didn't need anyone to mollycoddle him. But now more than ever, he wished that __he__ had someone to lean on, a shoulder to cry on._

_Not a day passed without him wishing to have any ounce of happiness left. But he knew, and so did Ryou. They were alone. Completely alone, with no one to care for them. They were braving the cold, harsh world alone, but they had each other. And for now, that would do._

_But one day, he swore he would get back at those back-stabbing bastards that had caused them so much pain, so much hurt. He would make them pay, and make them give Ryou's life back. Make them give his soul back. Even if it meant that he would perish on the way._

_But it would be worth it. Ryou's sadness was his sadness as well. Ryou's weakness was his weakness. Ryou's love was his love. But his love had been stolen, ripped to pieces, then handed back to him to mend by himself._

_He pulled Ryou closer, and shed his own tears over Ryou's hair. Ryou looked up, staring at him quizzically._

"'_Kura, why are you crying?"_

_Bakura smiled, wiping his tears away. "I'm not crying, you dip. There's just something in my eye, that's all! Besides, I'm sad because you're sad. So stop crying, ok, Ry? You don't have to cry anymore. You're not alone any more. I'll always be here for you, so don't you ever think that you're alone!"_

_Ryou smiled, and cuddled up to Bakura. "Thank you, 'Kura. You always say nice things to me. You're always helping me when I need help. I wish I could help you, but I'm only in your way." He sighed softly, closing his eyes. "When I first came here, I was scared. They performed all sorts of tests on me, they chased me endlessly. But I could always count on you to be there. 'Kura. I could count on you to protect me when I needed it." He leaned up and gave him a small kiss on the chin. "Thank you, Bakura."_

"_Don't mention it, Ry. But you're wrong. You do all sorts of things for me. You're there to comfort me when I lose control. You're there for me to confess my actions to. I can always count on you to be there for me when I need you most. When I needed comfort. Those rare moments when I went out of control and stampeded over everything in my path, you helped me._

"_You may not know it, Ryou, but you are there for me far more than I am for you. You never notice, but you make me feel better whenever you're around. You make me feel the most peaceful I ever will be when you're there." Bakura looked down, staring into Ryou's eyes. "So, thank __you__, Ryou. Thank you… for everything."_

_Then suddenly, a bright light shone in Bakura's eyes and Ryou was yanked away from him._

"_No! 'Kura!" Ryou screamed, his hands reaching out for Bakura's._

"_Ryou!"_

_And just as quick as it came, it left, taking Ryou – and what was left of his sanity – with it._

_He slid down the wall, and didn't move. And he wouldn't move until Ryou had been returned to him._

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Bakura jerked awake, growling. It was bad enough that that memory haunted his waking moments without him seeing it in his dreams.

What sickened him most was the fact that it made him feel happy, sad and angry at the same time. Happy because he got to share his feeling of warmth with Ryou. Sad because of the fact that that was the time that Ryou lost his love. And angry because of the hurt They made him feel. The hurt They made both of them feel.

He grumbled, climbing out of his bed. He waltzed out of the room without sending a second glance at the clothes Ryou had set at the end of the bed for him, and walked straight into the kitchen.

He smelled food, and at the moment, he was hungry. And his stomach came first.

"Good morning, Ryou," he said, startling the white-haired boy who was busy cooking.

Ryou turned around, and looked up at him. "So, I see you've decided to stay. No problem. Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes. I'm making pancakes."

Bakura grinned. "I know. I can smell them. Also… I have something to tell you…"

Ryou forced a smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well that's funny, because I have something to ask you."

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Confusing? Well, I kinda think so.

Not for the little note thingys:

(1) That means something like Angel's moon. I'm not the greatest at Japanese, so correct me if I'm wrong. But I'm learning!

(2) I know for a fact that neko means cat. So it's like 'cat features' on them... if you catch my drift. What does that mean, anyway? 'Catch my drift'?

Aaaaanyway, please push the funny idigo coloured button to review and make me happy! Insanely happy! (twitch)


	3. Escapeless

Hello! This is chapter three! Yes, THREEEEEEEEEE! Number three of, and I quote, 'this ra-damned story'! Weeee... I was up all last night trying to get it done... and I did... and we got let out early for school today... and I am happy!

I think that after this chapter, I'm going to start working on my other story again... n.n

Also, I decided to have little poems thingys after the chapter names. If you didn't know that, go back and read them! If you wish...

ALSO, this one seems to me like a filler chap. I hate filler chaps! But it explains a lot. A whole shit load of stuff, really.

Now, on with the story!

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

**Escapeless**

_Hear my blood fall  
__Feel my breath stall  
It's me that love hates  
What did I create?_

Both boys were silent as Ryou laid a porcelain plate heaped with pancakes in the middle of the table, along with two other empty ones. He stacked a few on his own plate, and began to munch slowly.

Bakura followed suit, a generous pile on his plate. He watched Ryou carefully, only taking his eyes off him to butter his food. And even when he did, half an eye was still on the small boy.

"So… you had something to say?" Ryou asked timidly, surprising them both by being the first to speak.

"You first. What did you want to ask?"

Ryou gulped at his breakfast, and set it back down on the plate. "Yeah… um, well, firstly, where did you get those ears and tail. I mean, they're not normal 'human' things, are they? Because I wasn't born with them. And Amane… I remember Amane being killed. Why? I mean, why just kill anybody for no particular reason?"

Bakura's ears twitched at the mention of them. He cleared his throat, ready for a loooong speech. "Well, that ties in with what I have to say.

"When I was little, all those years ago, I was a little piece of shit. My Mummy and Daddy were so disappointed with me, they sent me off to live in a boarding school. I think they were scared of me, actually. Anyway, I hated it there, so I was still a little piece of shit. The school was so pissed off, they asked my parents for permission to send to me off to a lab to 'cure' me. The didn't care what the hell happened to me, so they just said 'Yes please.'

"And that's when the real torture began. I mean, at least I had friends at the school. But in the lab, I had nobody. It was like Hell on Earth. And I think it was.

"Then the experiments began. I would watch them through the bars of my cage, yes, I said cage – don't look at me like that, it's what they did to everyone – and they would experiment on the other kids they held hostage there. They had an endless supply of 'little shits' to experiment on.

"Anyway, yeah, they experimented on them, fusing some of them with animal genes, like me – don't talk, I'm coming to it. For example, some were merged with Lions, and ended up with a big mane of shaggy hair around their head, and their senses were increased. Some were merged with bats, and ended up with tiny wings too useless for anything and a hunger for either fruit or animal blood, depending on what kind of bat they used.

"Once, there were these five kids that were fused with birds, and they were a great success. They had big, usable wings and everything. But then they got away, and that was the end of that. Except for that they sent some people after them. I have no idea what happened to them, but I bet they met a bloody and gruesome death. But they were one of the first great successes in a very small line.

"Sadly, most of the kids died in the operation, either of shock or pain or blood loss or who knows what?. You see, they didn't let you sleep, they injected you with this stuff that made you oblivious to pain for a short while, and made you watch the whole thing. You had to watch them open your insides and fiddle with your organs. _Not _a pretty sight, trust me, I've seen it happen way too many times.

"Because They thought I was special. Of all the little shits that were imported to them, They thought I had the most potential. Therefore, I was the most dangerous. They made me watch _everything _torturous, like the experiments, and the executions.

"And then, one day, They decided to experiment on me. So in goes the serum, out comes my self-control. I went totally mental, and I tried to lash out at them. They ended up chaining me to the operation thingy. I almost had to be drugged, but they didn't want to cut short the torture by letting me sleep.

"So basically, they cut me up and stuck their head inside. The pondered over it for a while – I got sick of watching them and almost fell asleep anyway – before they decided to do what they did to most of their staff. They stuck cat genes in me, and over a couple of weeks, I grew a tail, some ears, and my senses of sight, smell & hearing were all enhanced. I was around seven or eight at the time. I must say, it stomped out a lot of my self-dignity and mental-ness.

"But the amazing thing is, is that they found two so-called 'cures' for the ears. They found them quite by accident. The first one was affective, but it was not fool-proof. It only got rid of the ears, not the tail. They found out that by having 'sexual intercourse' (for want of a better word), the ears would just start to fall off, then slip off your head and were forgotten. The second one was more-or-less painful. They just got a saw and chopped them straight off. That was the 'unorthodox cure'.

"And then they made me work for them. I had nothing to lose, except my life. My parents didn't want me, and my friends only had me to protect themselves. They were selfish little shits, they were. So anyway, I said 'Yeah, I'll help, but only if you promise me freedom sometime soon' and they were like 'whatever'.

"They sent me on missions, they did. They sent me to collect the newest batch of little shits, any runaways, and made me go through with a couple of executions. It was torture, that was, but it was nothing new. And then – you came along, Ryou.

"You presented yourself as a threat when you discovered that your sister – Amane – wasn't really what she said she was. She was one of us, but instead of the usual animal fusions, they injected her with some unknown genes that they found on their doorstep. And being the inquisitive people they were, they decided to go and stick them inside someone.

"It turned out that they were Angel genes. Yeah, the angels with big, flappy wings and golden halos above their heads. They do exist, you know. I've seen one. Anyway, They wanted to know how she would cope in the 'Human World', so they sent her to live with an adoption family. And not just any family, mind you. They sent her to a special family. A family that they knew would take care of any abandoned child as if they were their own.

"She coped quite well for a while, and she got used to it. She was happy to walk among normal humans again, even though she knew that she would never fit in with the others.

"Everything was fine until your father started to snoop around. He found the files about herself that Amane was keeping secret. Because of this, They sent me to assassinate him. And this worked out fine, except for the fact that he told you and your mother about her too.

"So They sent Otogi to hunt you down and kill you all, even if it meant destroying one of the greatest creations they had ever created. But their plan back-fired when you killed him."

Ryou sat in silence as he absorbed all the information. It was a lot to absorb, on his account. "But… why can't I remember that Amane was what you said she was if Dad told me? Because I don't."

Bakura grimaced.

"Please, no long explanations like the last one," Ryou added hurryingly when he saw Bakura taking a deep breath.

"Um… ok, I'll try," he said. "But no promises. I could stray onto another topic, you know. It happens easily to me.

"Anyway, after you killed Otogi, you just slumped down and cried and cried and cried. I had seen everything, 'cause They sent me to make sure Otogi did his job right. I felt kind of sorry for you, so I came over and started to comfort you.

"Then I got this message from Them, telling me to take you to Them. They said that you could be useful, seeing that you killed one of their best assassins. I didn't want Them to take you, I knew what would happen, but I gave up in the end. They are very powerful, They are.

"I carried you all the way to Them. You started screaming at me to let you go at first, but then you quieted down, eventually falling asleep. I had to walk for weeks to get you there. I could have just run all the way, the cat genes let me run faster, but I was afraid I would drop you.

"And when we finally got there, They took you away and stuck cat genes in you, making you one of them. They trained you, made you the perfect spy, thief and killer. You gained skills that many human's would die for, and many did, trying to get them.

"Over the four years you were there, you never rebelled against them. You had lost your will to live. You were their puppet, the one that did a lot of their dirty work. You hardly spoke, ate, drunk, did anything, really. You worked in silence, doing your jobs quickly and efficiently.

"It scared me at first. But then I got used to it. One would have to, being around you all the time. You did all your missions with me. You hardly ever left my side.

"In a way, that was a bad thing. I was afraid that the things you saw would scare you away, make you terrified of me. But you never showed any sing of resenting anything I did, so I just did my job as normal did.

"And then, one day, you rebelled. You let loose all the anger, hurt, sadness and pain you had kept bottled inside. It was a sad, sad day for Them. They lost many of their staff in the massacre. You see, you were a dangerous killer. You had a secret that They didn't understand. It was like you controlled the air itself, manipulating it to destroy everything in a two-meter radius of you.

"It was then that They finally figured out that you were too dangerous to keep around. They were scared of _you, _Ryou. So they cut of your tail and ears, wiped your memory and sent you back into the Human World to fend for yourself. They wiped your memories, Ryou. That's why you can't remember anything. Even me."

Ryou pouted, trying to suck it all in. "But what about you? Why are you here? Are you here to kill me, or someone else?"

"No, I'm not," Bakura sighed. "I escaped," he said simply.

"Oh… How did y- never mind," Ryou started, but stopped himself, fearful of another extremely long explanation like the last two. "Anyway, one more question. Yesterday, when I took that bullet out, why did you trust me? I mean, I only just met you. I could have killed you, for goodness sake!"

"But you didn't, did you?" He said, starting once again on his now-cold pancakes. "If you had wanted to kill me, you would have done so, instead of actually helping me. So I suppose your question is nullified."

Ryou sighed exasperatedly. "I wish you would give a straight answer for once. Like, an answer one sentence long."

The whitenette grinned, showing unnaturally sharp canines. "How about this: I knew you wouldn't kill me."

"I suppose it will have to do… for now. One of these days, I _will _get a straight answer out of you! I swear it! Anyway…" he dragged off, carefully choosing the right words. "What did you want to say?"

Bakura finished his pancakes, and set the knife down with a grim expression on his face. "Ryou, before I ran away, I heard them plotting. They were plotting about you, Ryou. They want you back. They've discovered a new serum, one that lets them control the victim. They want you to kill again, Ryou, and They will stop at nothing to get you back.

"We've got to leave. I'll take you to Yami and Yugi in the mountains, they'll protect you. It's the only way of ensuring your safety, as well as mine."

Ryou's mouth dropped open, his fork clattered to the floor. "B-Bakura! I can't do that! I mean, if we were leaving for another town, then maybe I'd consider it, but… the mountains?!"

"Please, Ryou," he begged, "we must leave. It is no longer safe here. I can already sense Them coming! They'll be here in less than a day! Please…"

Ryou was shocked to hear the desperation in his voice, the tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

_Why is this so important?_ Ryou wondered. _Why all the fuss about me? I mean, I'm not that special… am I? And anyway…_

"Who are They?" Ryou voiced aloud, asking the question that had been bothering him for ages now.

Bakura flinched visibly. "_They _are called _Tenshi no Tsuki. _They are the ones that want you for themselves again. There, I've told you. Now never make me say that name again!" He yelled, banging his fists on the table and jumping up. "It's bad enough for me to tell you their plans without me saying their name!"

The smaller of the two flinched, but that was all he showed in acknowledgement of his outburst. He was reverting back to his stoic self, hiding away from the terror. Once again, he hid his emotions away, scared of being broken again.

"And don't give me that 'I don't care what you think' crap! I've had to put up with it for four years now! I know you care, Ryou! I know it!" He yelled again.

Ryou, however, still said nothing. And then, "Bakura… I'm sorry. I should never have asked…" he said softly, loosening his shields a fraction.

But Bakura was still seething. "Don't you give me that 'I'm sorry' shit!" He screamed and, without realizing it, slapped him hard across the face.

The impact sent him sprawling to the floor. Ryou yelled out in pain, clutching his throbbing cheek, a few tears falling down his face. He was confused. Bakura confused him so much. First, he was happy, content, telling him the things he wanted to know. Next minute, he's angry at him for one simple question. One. Simple. Question.

Bakura sobered at the sight of Ryou on the ground. He cried out in disbelief – how could he do such a thing? – and ran over to the boy's side. "Ryou, I'm sorry, so sorry. Please, let me-"

"NO!" He screamed, hitting Bakura's hand away. "I don't want your help! I don't want to hear any more of your lies!" He sobbed, standing up and running out the door. "Just leave me alone!"

"Shit," he cursed, watching Ryou run out the door. "Oh no, oh no, what have I done?"

His eyes swept over the room, searching for something. A glint of silver caught his eyes and he grabbed a single key on a small, metal hoop. The house key.

Still cursing, he ran out the door, locked the house, and darted after Ryou.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Ryou ran blindly, tears falling down his face only to be whipped away by the wind. Oh, how it hurt! The angry red mark was still engraved on his cheek, and would stay there for a few days.

He was confused. So confused. Why had Bakura hit him? He didn't want to think about it. He wanted to run and run and run until he couldn't run any more. When that happened, he wanted to just collapse wherever he was a sleep. Sleep forever and ever, and never wake up. Never wake up to the horrors that were his current life.

Ryou wanted to just let Them, the _Tenshi no Tsuki _people, to hurry up and capture him, if they were going to at all. He was sick of his life. He wanted out. He wanted to be able to be whisked away and forget everything.

Before this day, the only thing that kept him going was his memories, the knowledge that they, at least, would not change. But they did. They betrayed him, and concealed from him a good four years of his life. Four years of his miserable life.

Now that he thought about it, maybe forgetting wasn't a bad thing. If They were as bad as Bakura said they were, maybe it was a good thing he didn't remember. Maybe it was a good thing that he didn't remember the executions and deaths and experiments that went on inside the science lab walls.

Ryou's imagination sprung at him like a spring. Maybe Bakura was lying. Maybe they were, in fact, the good guys. Maybe Bakura was actually working for someone else, someone darker. I mean, _Angel's Moon_? Not a very threatening name. But then again, if you wanted to remain inconspicuous, a threatening name wasn't the way to go.

But… what if Bakura was telling the truth? Then he'd have to accept the fact that he was a freak of nature, that he wasn't fully human. Even though he couldn't see the cat attachments, know that he knew about them, he felt an empty longing where they once were. Or once might have been, if it was true.

And the evidence was in Bakura's favour. I mean, he did have the cat ears and tail that he mentioned. He did seem to swing between two personalities, sort of like the mental-ness that was crushed out was trying to escape. Maybe it really was.

And if it was, what would happen to him? Would his mental-ness be angry at Bakura for not letting him out for who knows how long? What would he do it that was true? Would he kill him? Would he kill Bakura?

Ryou didn't how long he could keep the façade of the life he was currently living.

In all honesty, he was afraid. He was afraid he would lose his only contact to his sanity he had left – the side of him that didn't give a shit about what was happening out in the world. The one that didn't give a shit about what others thought about him. The one that never showed it's true emotions. The one…

…The one that ached for love. The one that ached for someone to care for. The one that ached for the life he once had. Maybe Bakura was the one he was aching for.

Maybe… no. It was ridiculous. How could he like someone he had only just met? Unless…

Unless they were old flames being lit again. Unless…

"Ouch!"

Ryou cried out as he tripped over a rock and fell head-over-heels onto the road. He rolled a bit, then stopped. His knee was grazed and the angry red mark on his cheek had only gotten worse, but still he stood back up and ran again.

He wasn't that far from his destination – the cemetery. When he left the house, he hadn't planned to come here, his feet had led him, like they always did. They took him to where he longed to be most. And at the moment, he longed to be with the one part of love that he had lost.

He wanted to be by his family's graves.

Yes, he had moved, but only far enough so that the police wouldn't come chasing after him. He was still pretty close to the place where his sister, mother, father and uncle had been buried.

And that's where he headed. He made a beeline for their gravestones.

In finding them, he collapsed in front of the closest one and cried again. He cried and cried and cried, trying to get all his emotions out in his tears. All the frustration, all the desperation, all the despair…

"No… A-Amane… Mother… Father… why did you have to die? Why did you leave me alone in this cold, cruel world?"

His cries were not answered, but he didn't expect them to be. After all, he was in a graveyard. Full of dead people. And dead love. And dead dreams. And dead memories.

Ryou's eyes clouded up again as he, once again, burst out into tears, Sometimes, the pain was just too much for him to bear, and he let it all out at once.

"…Ryou?"

He jerked away from the hand on his shoulder, not looking up yet already knowing who it was. "Bakura… why did you run after me? Why won't you just leave me alone? Can't you see that I'm lost? Can't you see that I'll never be the Ryou you knew ever again? Why, Bakura, why…?"

"Ryou, I… I… well, I'm sorry, I suppose. All those years ago, I should never have handed you over to them. I should have hidden you away and never let them get you," said the dark voice from behind him.

"Damn right!" Ryou exclaimed, turning around to face the shocked whitenette. "Why didn't you just leave me to rot in my misery! I would have eventually faded away, and not had to worry about this! All the hurt and pain and sadness that came from what happened to me could have been avoided! What did I do to deserve any of this! It's NOT FAIR!" He screamed, his face scrunched up.

"Why the hell didn't you just keep on walking when you saw me sitting there? Why didn't you take this one chance to disobey your _masters _and let me go?"

Bakura flinched, angered. "Ryou, do _not _call them that! They are not my master! I am not a slave!"

Ryou wasn't finished yet. "And you expect me to believe that? From what you told me, and from what I can see, that's all you were! You let them push you around, knock you down, do whatever the hell they wanted! You let them take me away!"

"Oh, and like you were any better? You were the same as well, Ryou-dearest. You took on what they told you to do! You did it without a second thought! YOU were the mindless slave, _not _me!" Bakura seethed.

By now, Ryou was running out of breath, but he wasn't about to give up. Hell no! "Oho, no. Don't you turn my past against me, Bakura Yabunashi. Of all the things I detest at this current moment, I'm hating you the most! _You _killed me! _You _are the reason that-"

"Oh, will you two just SHUT UP!"

They both turned to see a small, transparent girl that looked about ten years old standing there, hands on her hips, a commanding expression on her face. "I hate hearing people arguing above my grave!"

"…Grave?"

Just then, Ryou's stomach gave a massive lurch. "A-Amane?"

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"A-Amane… is that you?" Ryou said, staring at her.

"The one and only!" She said brightly, flicking her hair back.

"Amane… how? What… how… huh?"

Amane laughed. "I see you're clueless, ne?" She said cheerfully. "But if you wouldn't mind keeping it down a bit, some of us actually like to get a bit of shut-eye around here."

Bakura still looked angry. His eyes went from Ryou, to Amane, and back to Ryou. "Ryou, what the hell is going on? I thought that Otogi killed Amane! Did you heal her?"

Ryou turned to Bakura and stood up, eying him angrily. "Are you accusing me of _necromancy_, Bakura? Are you? Well come on, tell me, I want to know!"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. But the true answer lies in you, Ryou Tsuki. If you have nothing to hide, then tell me, why am I staring at someone who is supposedly dead?!" Bakura yelled out the last word.

"Now-"

"I thought I told you two to SHUT UP! I hate people arguing over my death. I hear them out there all the time. It's Amane this and Amane that. I don't need to be hearing it from me beloved brother and his…" she eyed Bakura suspiciously. "…friend. Did you know, that even after four years, they still haven't figured out who killed me, mother and uncle? They thinks it's you, Ryou, and they've been looking for you for ages! Sheesh! Where have you been hiding?"

Ryou looked downcast, and grunted a single word. "Moved."

Amane pouted. "Don't you grunt at me, mister! I've heard so many grunts that if I hear another, I'm going to go crazy!"

Ryou looked up, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry, Amane. It's just… well, why are you a ghost? I thought that you, of all people, would have wanted to move on the most."

Amane frowned. "Yeah, well it's just that Otogi condemned me to haunt this place for ever and ever. Or, until someone else sets me free. I would prefer the second option. You know, I've asked so many people here to help me move on, and they all thought they were crazy! Sheesh, what is it with people these days? Why are they such wimps?"

Ryou frowned. "We are not wimps! We are, as a matter of fact, quite the opposite. Did you know that just last week, I-"

Bakura's ears twitched. Someone was coming. But Bakura, being so used to it, ignored it. He had trained himself to be able to ignore the ears when he really wanted to.

A big mistake, as it turned out.

Several large men jumped out of the bushes, all wacing big, dangerous weapons. Something about them screamed 'Guns!' in Bakura'smind.

"Ryou Bakura, you are hereby under arrest for the murders of Amane, Yuki and Yubai Bakura. Come with us, and nobody needs to get hurt," one of them said, presumably the one in charge.

Ah… so they were cops… Cops that wanted to arrest Ryouand stick himin a cold, smelly jail cell!

"No!" Ryouyelled as hebacked away slowly, and tried to make a break for it. He cried out as two of them grabbed his arms from behind and pulled him back. "No!" He yelled again.

_No… I didn't murder them… It wasn't me… _"It wasn't me!" He cried out, but his pleas were falling on deaf ears.

"Brother!" Amane gasped, watching the scene unfold before her eyes. It was awful, and she wanted it to stop. Quite desperate, she jumped in front of one cop, stuck her arm through his head and yelled out "boo!"

The man fainted dead away. Apparently, he had never seen an intangible ghost before. A lucky stroke for Amane, but very unlucky for the poor policeman on the ground.

Bakura growled. How dare these guys just turn up and crash their party?! He was probably going to regret this later but… _here goes nothing! _

He ran forwards, in front of a policeman that was trying to hold Ryou down. He brought his tail up and tickled the man on the chin. Yes, tickled. The great Bakura actually _tickled _someone. His opponent, no less.

The man chuckled a bit, then looked down. "What the…?"

He barely had time to say that before Bakura's tail came and crashed into his head – hard. Bakura winced as he heard something go _crack, _and it wasn't his tail. In fact, his tail was one of the strongest objects out there.

"You freak!" Someone yelled. He turned around, but wasn't fast enough to stop one of the guys flying at him. Said guy had something sharp in his hand. Like a needle kind of sharp. A needle filled with sedative kind of sharp.

Bakura's eyes widened and he struggled as the needle pierced his skin and the sedative entered his body. In less than five seconds, he fell down, beaten.

Ryou, too, was struggling for freedom.

"Quick! Get the sedative!" One of the men yelled, holding his hand out. A small, sharp needle was placed in his hands. It was exactly like the one they had used on Bakura.

The man grinned, holding the needle high. "Now, little Ryou Bakura, you shall find out what we do to little boyswho misbehave!"

Ryou struggled, but it was in vain. The men holding himdown were too strong for him.

The man smirked as he plunged the needle into Ryou's skin, and injected the serum. Ryou shivered, before falling limp, unconscious. The men sighed in relief.

"Pick him up and put him in the car," the man ordered. "Make sure you take anything sharp off him and dump 'em on the ground before he goes in. I don't want him waking up and attempting to kill _us._" The man ordered.

"Yes sir! But what about the other one?"

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

R&R, people! (Pondering) I need some food...


	4. Fearless

Um… yeah… it's chapter four…

Ok, I lied when I said I was going to do my other story. Hehe… silly me (n.n). Also… introducing… someone that you shall meet very soon that you all know and love and yeah...

SO, you have been warned yada yada yada I'll do the disclaimer again…

DISCLAIMER: Only in a world where the sky is green, people have purple skin and grass is made of chocolate do I own Yugioh. The last I checked, grass still tastes like grass… ---- But I do own the poem!

(For a few people who didn't get that (i.e. the people who may sue me some time in the future), it means that I don't own Yugioh!)

Also, thanks to **dragonlady222** for being a faithful reveiwer! Squee! Thankies!

_---_L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

**Fearless**

_A tear you could not catch  
__Now you've met your match  
__A war I did not start  
__You went and stole my heart_

Poke. Grunt. Poke. Grunt. Another poke. Another grunt. Poke. Grunt. Yell. Moan.

"Oh, COME on, the sedative doesn't knock you out _that _much. You should be awake by now," said a voice quite close to his ear. He grunted again. "Don't you grunt at me, mister. What is it with you people and grunts?"

"Uh…?" Ryou tried to open one eye, and immediately shut them again. Whoever was trying to talk to him, they would have to back away a bit. "Too close…"

The person pouted, but moved back anyway. "_Anyway, _as I said, the sedative isn't that strong… Unless, of course, they overdosed on you, but you should be fully awake by now…"

Ryou grunted again. "And what if I'm not?"

The person laughed. "Well, if you weren't, would you be talking to me at this current moment? No, I should think not. Unless you sleep talk. I once had a roomy who did that. _Man, _was that annoying!"

"Mnngh… shut up… you're talking too loud. Some people are actually trying to get some shut eye around here… wherever here is." Ryou grumbled, falling back to sleep.

The person chuckled, and lifted Ryou up a bit, so that he slumped on the wall. Deciding this was a good moment, he cracked his eye open a bit. "Who're you and where am I?" He asked the person sitting in front of him. He had platinum-blonde hair, lilac eyes, tanned brown skin, a white top and tan-ish pants on. He was dirty and skinny, you could see some of his ribs underneath his clothes. Not that he was looking, of course.

"Who, me? I'm Malik! Malik Ishtar, at your service! Well, to most people, anyway. And you're in jail. BUT, the good thing is, is that you have me as company!" The boy said proudly, hardly ashamed of the fact that they were both locked up behind bars.

Ryou groaned. He shouldn't be here. He should be with Bakura and Amane in the graveyard, reminiscing over their parents. But he wasn't. He was locked up in a cage, and, if he didn't get out soon, that's where he would stay for a veeery long time.

"So…" Malik dragged off, trying to make conversation. "What's your name? You never told me."

"I'm Ryou Bakura," he said bluntly.

Malik's eyes widened a bit, then went back to their natural size. Ryou looked at him a bit, then shrugged.

"What? What are you shrugging for? I didn't do something wrong, did I?" Malik said feverently.

"No, it's just that you were staring at me funny, and I noticed, but then I didn't care, so I just shrugged and went back to my fantasy world inside my head," Ryou replied.

Malik shrugged. "Oh, I see then."

The silence that followed was immense. Ryou stared at nothing at particular, watching people rush past their cell. Not that many did, seeing how 'busy' they were. Malik was staring out as well. One person stopped by their cell once, opened their mouth to say something, shook his head and just stared at them. Malik started to get aggravated, and was glaring at the man.

Unlucky for him, he didn't notice the blonde-haired boy burning a hole in his back.

Malik hated people like him. All they did was come and stare at him like he was an animal on display. And to many, that's just what he was. An animal, vermin, something to be rid of. A few seconds ticked by, and the man still had not moved.

Jumping to his feet, Malik ran over to the door thing, and yelled in his face. "If you got something to say, say it! Don't just stand there like an idiot trying to figure out what 'one plus one' is! It's so freaking annoying!"

The man yelped and ran off, leaving his case behind. Malik smirked. What an idiot. He poked his arm through the skinny bars and grabbed the handle of the case. He tugged at it, and soon, he had it in the cell sitting on his lap.

Ryou perked a little. "What's that?"

"Hm…" Malik opened the case. "Not much. Some paper, a pencil case, a few books, a folder full of some stuff… other crap… Here, I'll dump it on the floor."

And that's what he did. He turned the case upside-down, and the contents spilled to the floor. Malik was right. There wasn't that much, but there was a bit. A four-hundred leaf pad of paper, a red pencil case, a few books on 'Law and Order', a manila folder with Ryou's name stamped on it, an apple and a few pieces of wrapped-up pizza.

"Hey Ryou, I wonder why this has your name on it," Malik said, picking the folder up. He leafed through it, but his eyes were a bit blank. "I can't understand a bit of this. What do you reckon it says?" He passed the folder over to Ryou, who then opened it and leafed through it like Malik had done.

"I see why you can't read it. It's in English. Lucky for us, I can read English. It's my first language, actually, out family came from England," Ryou explained a bit. He stopped on a few pages, frowned, and moved on. Within a few minutes, he was finished, and was looking through the other stuff.

"So what did it say?" Malik asked, highly interested.

Ryou shrugged. "Not much. Just talking about how I am a mad, masochistic psychopath who cannot be trusted. There were a few pictures of me, my family, and bios. As I said, not much." He said, and left it at that.

He picked up the wad of paper, and the pencil case. "Are you going to use these? I'm going to pass the time a bit."

Malik shook his head. "Nope. But can I eat that apple? I haven't eaten in days…" he dragged off.

Ryou glanced at the boy on the ground. He did indeed look like he hadn't eaten in days. And he had eaten only about an hour ago, so he wasn't hungry. "Yeah, go for it. I'm not hungry, I ate just before I got here."

He climbed onto his makeshift bad and grimaced as Malik began to eat, making huge chomping noises. "Can you quiet down a bit? I'm trying to concentrate here, you know."

"So'wi," Malik said through a mouth full of apple.

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said, and began to write.

After a couple of minutes, Ryou was lost in thought and Malik had started on the pieces of pizza. He quickly finished one off, and was now quite interested in what Ryou was doing.

He stalked over, and peeked over Ryou's shoulder to see what he was writing. It was a delicately written poem in red ink (there was no blue), and a small picture at the bottom which the boy was still working on. There was a title up the top, and it read 'Heroes'.

His amethyst eyes widened as he read through the poem. "Oh, Ryou, that's great!" He exclaimed, making Ryou jump. He hadn't noticed the boy sneak up behind him.

"MALIK! Geez, you surprised me! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Ryou exclaimed, his heart beating fast from surprise. At least, that's what he thought it was. …Hehe.

"Read it out, Ryou. Go on, it's awesome!" Malik egged him on.

"But… it's not that good! I think it's crap…" he sighed, dragging off his voice.

"Fine then, I'll read it," Malik announced, snatching the paper from the boy's hands. Ryou yelped, jumping up. "N-No, Malik, it's ok… I'll do it…"

He cleared his throat, ready to talk. "But when this is over, if I get caught, you are so dead…"

Malik blanched. He didn't like the threatening tone in Ryou's voice. "U-Um… yeah…"

Ryou sighed. "Just kidding. Anyway, here goes."

"**Heroes.**

"_Heroes think they can save the world  
__When they themselves are lost  
__Lost in our damned world,  
__They will protect at any cost._

"_But sometimes the cost is way too much  
__And heroes have nothing to give  
__They turn to others and plea for help  
__For they retain the right to live._

"_Heroes think they can save the world  
__When the world does not need saving  
__And when it does, they hide away  
__Locked in their home, their haven._

"_But haven will not hold forever  
__The supports are far from stable  
__And one day, it will collapse  
__To be forgotten, like an old fable._

"_And when it does, who will be there?  
__Who's face is it you'll see?  
__Not that of a hero's; bold, yet weak  
__The one you'll see… is me…"_

Malik looked like he was in heaven. Ryou didn't really know why, it was only a poem, after all. But he had his reasons, everyone did. Then, he snapped out of it just like that.

"Wow, Ryou, it sounds even better when you say it! I love it! And I know I've just met you, but can I give you a hug?" He asked politely.

Having no reason to say to, Ryou nodded his head and Malik squealed, jumping on top of him. He bowled them both over, and they lay there, Malik squeezing the air out of him.

Ryou gasped. "Malik… too tight… can't breathe…"

"Oops, sorry!" He said happily, and let Ryou go, causing him to deflate on the floor. "It's just such a good poem! You shouldn't be in here, you should be out there, writing stuff! But…" He started to ponder something. Something interesting… "Why're you in here, Ryou? You _should_ be out there, showing your talent to the world."

Said boy looked up. "Oh. Apparently, I killed my family. But that's not true, this other dude did it. He had black hair and green eyes, but he's dead now. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"How come you're here?" He said, looking at Malik.

"Oh, that. I stole some stuff from the upper class-men. They're a stupid bunch of idiots, they are. You would've thought they'd have caught me after the first twenty times, but no," he sighed. "But you do what you can to survive in this place. If you don't look out for yourself, next thing you know, 'poof!' you're gone," he took a bite a pizza, and continued to examine the stuff on the floor.

Ryou laughed. "I see! It must have been hard for you to live like that, if you had to steal for a living. What… what happened to your family?" He asked lightly, careful not to push it too far, or to sound too intruding.

But Malik's attitude never changed. "Dead. Mum was a druggie. She over-dosed one day and 'bam!' she's gone. Dad's a junkie and 'e got killed in a street fight. I ran away from my sister's place coz I didn't want to be any trouble. Not that I am, of course," he laughed wryly.

Ryou was surprised about the carefree way that Malik explained the misfortune of his family. If it had been him, he would've broken down by now. But Malik was stronger than he looked. He hid his sorrow behind a smile. A warm, caring smile. Not that he knew much about the boy just yet.

But still... to loose family like that… Ryou tried to fend it off, but couldn't help it as tears started to trickle down his cheek.

"Sumimasen…(1)"

"For what? Oh, you mean making me tell you about my family? Don't be sorry, they were a bunch of dicks anyway. They never cared for me, and I'm just returning the favour." He said, and left it at that.

Ryou lay down on his make-shift bed and thought about the way his life had turned… either for the better… or worse…

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"Bakura-sama…?" Said the small, childish voice beside the crumpled body on the ground. "Bakura-sama… are you ok?" She said again.

Bakura groaned. His head hurt like hell, and the voice beside him was doing nothing but drive him further to the point of insanity. It was too loud for his poor eardrums, which already hurt from the encounter with the 'men-in-blue'.

"Bakura-sama?"

He growled. "Will you just shut up?!"

Amane flinched, retreating back a few steps. "Gomennasai(2), Bakura-sama. I see you're ok now."

The white-haired cat-boy-thing sat up, his head in his hands. "Amane? It that you?" Then, something clicked and he jumped up, swayed a bit, then fell down again. "Amane, where's Ryou? What happened to Ryou? Where is he?!"

The small ghost jumped back, alarmed by the fire in Bakura's eyes, the fire that refused to be put out. He was determined to reach his goal, whatever it was.

"My brother… they took him away!" She cried out. "They took him away, and I couldn't stop them! I'm just a ghost, I can't interfere with what's happening in the mortal world, physically speaking. My brother… my… brother…" she broke down, sobbing on the ground.

Bakura's expression softened a bit, and he tried to comfort the girl, but could do nothing, seeing as he went right through her. "Amane… don't cry, I'll find him. We'll find him together, I promise. And I never break my promises."

Amane looked up, her face sparkling with tears. "You will? Thank you, Bakura-sama!" She smiled happily, and rubbed her tears away softly.

_She really does act as if she will break at the slightest touch… and if she's anything like Ryou, she might…_ Bakura mused, zoning out a bit.

"First, I need to know where they took him. Do you know, Amane?" Bakura asked.

Amane sobbed a bit. "No… no, I don't. But I think they took him to the police station and stuck him in one of the cells until his trial, which I don't know the date of. But if I'm right, then I can lead you there. I know this city inside and out!" She said cheerfully.

Bakura smiled. It seemed as though the girl had got some of her happiness back, even if it was only a little bit. The whole family was recovering, piece by itsy bitsy piece.

Something shiny caught his eye, and he turned towards it. Sticking out of the grass was a few shiny objects. Curious, Bakura crawled over, and picked them up. In his hands was a gold pen, a coin, a small razor blade, and a piece of crumpled up paper.

He unwrapped this first. It was a picture of a girl. She had long, red hair, cat ears, a tail, red eyes and a pair of big, snow-white wings. Her expression was blank, like she had nothing to say to the world. She was standing on a grayish cloud with the sunrays hitting her face, and there was a small signature scrawled at the bottom of it. Written over it in big, bold writing was one word.

**Freak!**

He growled. It was a perfectly fine drawing, just short of a master-piece, and some idiot had the guts to write that all over it! He hated people like that, so he screwed it back up and chucked it away.

Amane floated over and looked at it. "Bakura-sama, can you open this for me? I can't touch anything, remember?"

"Why do you want to look at that? I saw it before, it's only a super-cool drawing that somebody graffitied on."

The girl pouted. "But I'm curious! I want to know what it looks like! And the description you gave me makes me even more curious! Open it for me, Bakura-sama!"

Bakura smirked. "Remember, curiosity killed the cat!"

Amane's eyes glittered. She gave her own devilish smirk, and countered by saying one simple word. "How?"

"Nice," Bakura commented, raising his hands. "I admit defeat. I'll open it for you," he said and crawled over to where he had thrown the paper. He opened it up and flattened it out, allowing Amane to look at the picture to her heart's content.

And that's what she did. She poured over the picture, and gave a little gasp. "I know this picture!"

"What?"

"This is Ryou's picture!" She continued, as if Bakura had never interrupted her. "I would recognize this picture anywhere! Me and him worked on this picture when we were little and I was still alive. He drew it, and I coloured it in. It was kind of like what we imagined our saviour would look like when we needed one. He even did his signature down the bottom… but it's changed a bit since I saw it last…"

"Amane, what does this mean?" Bakura questioned her, standing up.

Amane turned and looked him in the eye, "It means that they did indeed take him to the police station, and we need a plan to bust him out, pronto!"

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Bakura and Amane stood poised outside of the police station, ready to bust in. "Um… Amane, how do we get in again?"

"What? Why're you asking me? You're the one that said 'Oh, I have a plan,' for freaking sake!" Amane yelled out, before getting shushed by the tangible boy next to her.

"Why don't we just create a diversion by setting the building on fire and then bust him out? That sounds like a good idea. Let's just go with that," he offered, and tried to get Amane to let him set something on fire.

But Amane thought different. "No! You can't do that, you crazy pyromaniac! You might kill Ryou on your mad rampage!"

Bakura grumbled. "Killjoy. I'm gonna set that place on fire whether you like it or not! And you can't stop me! Mwa ha ha ha haaaaa…" He ranted, and ran off to find some matches.

Amane sweatdropped. "Um… Bakura-sama… are you ok? Did you forget to take your pills or something?" She said to his back.

He came back a few minutes later, holding a cardboard box in his hands. He held them up triumphantly. "Ha ha! I HAVE THE ALL-MIGHTY MATCHES!" He cackled, attracting a few stares.

"Um… Bakura-sama… you're attracting some unwanted attraction… Where did you get those matched anyway?" Amane asked softly, afraid that he was, indeed, crazy. And he probably was.

Bakura huffed, a bit out of breath. "Stole them from a pyromaniac in one of the cells. He said I could have them if I promised to burn down the police station, and being the kind person I am, I said I would. So come on, we have a station to burn down!"

"This is so not going to work…" Amane whimpered, trailing along behind Bakura.

"Aw come on, Amane, you need to lighten up!" Bakura encouraged her. "At least you're a ghost. The police can't lock you up if you're dead! Think of what I have to do. I can't just go in there and set it on fire, they'll have sprinklers. I have to go into the control room, disable the sprinklers, _then _set it on fire!"

Amane pouted. "Yeah, well you're just putting that on yourself! You don't even really need to do that!"

Bakura pushed open a window on the side of the building and curled his fingers around the windowsill. "I know, but it's more fun this way!" He gave a mischievous smile and vaulted into the room.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Said a man dressed in blue, sitting on a swivel chair and eating a doughnut.

"Eh? Oh shit, I didn't think there'd be anybody in here. Um… I was never here…" Bakura stuttered. Then he had an idea. "You know what? You're dreaming. And to prove it, look at this!"

Bakura smiled childishly, and showed him his white tail. "And look, I have ears!" He twitched his ears, and the man looked up at them.

"Wow, I think I AM dreaming… I mean, no real human has a tail… can I feel it?" The man asked, dumbfounded.

At this stage, Amane was lost. What was Bakura playing at, showing some random his tail?! But what she did next explained it to her…

"Of course you can!" Bakura said with that same, fake smile he had on. It was quite unnerving to see him act so happy like that, but Amane got over it. This is _Bakura _we're talking about, and Bakura can do anything!

And this time, he waltzed over to the man, and put his tail forward, as if offering it to the man. He reached out for it, and 'bam!' he was down.

What happened is that when the man reached out, Bakura found his opening and he swung his tail at his head. It came crashing down hard, and the man collapsed to the ground.

"Maybe in 2,000 years, you jerk!" He exclaimed, kicking the unconscious man underneath his desk. He then called out to Amane. "Come on, Amane, let's go! We have a mission to complete!"

Amane sighed, and floated through the wall, joining Bakura. "Right then. What do you want me to do?"

"Hm…" Bakura thought a bit, his finger tapping his cheek. He then pointed to the door, and said, "Go out there and ask somebody where the control room is. If they ask why, just say that there's this dude in there that you want to haunt. Now go! Quick, before somebody comes in here!"

He shooed her out the door, and she sunk through it, coming out the other side. Luckily (or unluckily, if you want to think of it that way), she had emerged face-to-face with another cop.

"Um… what?"

Amane put on her best cute face, and talked in such a girlish voice, that she really wanted to puke. "Excuse me, mister cop man, I know you're reeeaaally busy with your police work and all, but do you think you could help me find the control room?"

The cop was slightly taken aback. Was he really talking to a ghost, or was his mind playing tricks on him again? "Uh… um… yeah… take the next right, then go all the way to the end of the hall. There's a room there called 'control room', but that's not the one. It's the one next to it that says 'Janitor's closet'. It's to throw off any intruders, or something like that. Anyway… I should be going…" he said, and rushed off.

"Thank you mister cop man!" Amane called out to his back, waving him off. She then grimaced, and spat on the wall. "Gah, I hate talking like that. Don't ever make me do that again!" She yelled at the boy that had suddenly appeared at her side.

"Don't worry, I won't. But thank you, anyway, that saved a lot of time and trouble. Now, let's go!" Bakura said enthusiastically, and marched off down the hallway.

Amane turned and raced after him. "Ah! Bakura-sama, wait for meeeeee!"

A few uneventful minutes later, both of them were standing in front of a room marked 'Janitor's closet',

"This the one?" Bakura asked, slightly testing the door.

Amane nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. Unless that dude was lying, and this really is only a Janitor's closet. If it is, then we're really stuffed. But we won't know unless we try. So go on, Bakura-sama, open the door and find out!"

Bakura, however, had other plans. "No! I could get stuck in jail if they catch me! You stick your head in and check!" He yelled, and went to push Amane, but fell straight through her and crashed into the wall. "Ow!"

The ghost girl took one look at the boy against the wall, and laughed. "Geez, Bakura-sama, you _do_ know that I'm a ghost, and you can't effect me, and vice versa, right?" She sighed, shaking her head. "Ah well. There's nothing for it except to stick my head in. But after this, you start helping as well, don't make me do all the dirty work!"

She groaned, and stuck her head in. A few seconds later, she pulled it out and gave Bakura the thumbs up. "Yup, this is the one. There are about five people in there, so be careful, Bakura-sama…"

Bakura grinned happily. It was more of an evil smirk, really. Man, Amane was feeling sorry for the people on the other side now… "Awright, let's go!"

He threw open the door and waltzed right in. It wasn't much, really, just a huge computer on one side of the wall and a few more scattered randomly around. "Evening, boys, how are we today? Surprised to see me back, are we? Well, I'm afraid I can't stay and chat for long, I have a mission to complete, you know!"

While he was saying this, he was walking around and karate-chopping the men in the pressure point between the neck and shoulder. Unconsciousness was immediate.

"Well, that was easy. A bit _too _easy, if you ask me, but hey, it works for me!" He said happily and jumped in front of the big wall-computer. He clicked on something random and pushed a few buttons, trying to look like he knew what he was doing. And then…

"NO! The BSOD!" Bakura exclaimed, banging his head on the keyboard.

Amane was puzzled. "Um… Bakura-sama, what's the BSOD?"

Bakura spun around, his eyes burning. "How could you not know what BSOD means? It's taking over the world! It's the Blue Screen Of Death! Ahh, the horror!"

Sure enough, on the screen there was nothing but blue. Blue, blue, blue and more blue. "Ah… I… see… why don't you just restart it?"

"Oh yeah…"

And that's what he did. He pushed the big 'off' button and the whole computer went black. He then pushed it again, and the screen whirred to life.

"Hah! We have control! Now, sprinklers… sprinklers… sprinklers… ah, here we are, sprinkler control! Off, thank you very much!" He said in a sing-song voice, and clicked the 'off' button.

The ghost girl sighed a bit. "Um… Bakura-sama, did you forget to take some pills, or something? You're acting too happy for your own good and it's scaring me…"

"Nani?(3)" He turned and faced the translucent girl. "Are you talking to me? I'm afraid I'm not Bakura, I'm his happier alter-ego, Yukai(4). I can't believe you've only just noticed. I've been in control since… since just after he fell into the wall. But never fear, I'm still going to bust Ryou out!" He giggled a bit, and started to tap through the contents of the computer.

"Now, we have to find out where Ryou is being held. Also, let's disable the camera's and wipe them of their contents, ne?" He said, and tapped into one of the folders.

Amane sighed, then pointed out something. "Look, Bakura-sama, Yukai, whoever's in control, go in that folder, that's Ryou's folder!"

Bakura's alter-ego, Yukai, clicked on the file and looked through it. "Ok, I know where Ryou is! He's… down the hall opposite us… and I disabled the camera's. Now, let's set something on fire!"

Before Amane could stop him, he had taken off his jacket, struck a match, and set it on fire. He then laid it on the control panel, and soon, the whole thing had been set ablaze.

"Now, to rescue Ry-"

_**/Gimme back control, you **__**body snatching moron! You're screwing everything up, I wanted to set this place on fire! Plus, I liked that jacket!/**_

_\Hehe… never! You'll just have to get a new one now, won't you?\_

_**/G**__**rr… Yukai… give – me – back – my – body!/**_

_\AA__aaHHhhhh……\_

Yukai's yells died in his throat as Bakura took back control of his own body. He was staring at a particularly confused Amane. "A word to the wise: don't ask."

Amane nodded. "Right. I bet I don't want to know anyway. Alright, off to save Ryou!"

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"Um… Ryou… do you smell something?"

"What?" Ryou's head jerked up at Malik's voice, and he could indeed smell something funny. Something burning… "Malik… Is something… on fire?!"

Malik sat up straight and sniffed at the air. "Holy heck, Ryou, I think you're right! Aaaahhhh! We're all gonna die! Someone, anyone, get us out of here!" He jumped up and rattled the bars of the jail cell. "Please, anyone, I'm too young to die! I haven't even… got to see… the ocean…" He faded of.

The whitenette sighed and rolled his eyes. "We live in a port city, _baka. _This place is like, two streets away from the shoreline," he said, and whacked Malik on the head.

"Ow! That hurt! But we really need to get out of here, pronto! Otherwise, we're gonna burn to death! No! It's my greatest fear!" He yelled out, still shaking the bars.

Then, Ryou jumped up off his bed and clapped a hand around Malik's mouth. "Shh, Malik. I hear someone coming! And in all my two hours here, someone still has to prove to me that they're kind enough to let us out, let alone in an emergency like this one!"

"Mhmph!" Malik squirmed, trying to pry Ryou's hand of his mouth. Seeing that this was not working, he started to lick Ryou's palm.

"Malik! Ew…!" He exclaimed, wiping his hand on his top. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because I have something to tell… you… Hello. Who are you?" Malik turned to the door and standing there was Bakura himself, and Amane was hovering next to him.

Ryou looked delighted. "Bakura! You're not dead!"

"No, you're not dead, either. How about a simple 'Hello. How are you, Bakura. Thank you for saving me, Bakura. I am forever in your dept, Bakura'," grumbled an irritated Bakura.

The smaller of the two grinned weakly. "Hehe… I suppose I do owe you a 'hello'. But there shall be no forever depting myself to you. And- what're you doing here, Amane?"

Amane huffed, folding her arms and looking away. "What, just because Bakura-sama wanted to play hero, does that mean that I can't help get my brother out of jail, too?"

"Eh… no?"

"Ryou, who are these people?" Malik asked him, totally confused about what was going on.

"Malik, this is my… err… friend, Bakura," he motioned to him, "And this is my dead sister who's now a ghost, Amane," he pointed to her and she waved. "You two, this is my new friend, Malik."

"Hello," Amane greeted him, waving.

"Hm… do you know anybody called Mariku?" Bakura asked without even saying hello.

Malik thought it over a bit, but then shook his head. "Nope. Nobody called Mariku in my memory banks. But my friends' cousins' friend was called Marik, does that help?"

"Never mind. Anyway, let's get you outta here," he dismissed the thought, and in less than 10 seconds, he had the cell door open and was waiting for Ryou to get out.

"Well, come one, let's go!"

Ryou nodded. "Yes, let's. To the mountains?"

Bakura nodded solemnly. "To the mountains," he agreed, and ran down the hallway with two boys and a ghost following after him.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Hehe! My longest chapter yet! OH, and before I forget, here are the note thingy's for this chapter:

(1) It means sorry in Japanese

(2) If you don't know what this means, then Geez, where have you been! It means sorry as well, only very, _very _politely

(3) What?

(4) Hehe… his new alter-ego! I'm sorry for anybody who doesn't like the idea, but it's really the only way to explain why he suddenly got so happy and all. I think I'll explain some things now, instead of later.  
A) No, he's not a Yami, just an alter-ego.  
B) He cannot just take control whenever he likes, like normal Yami's, but if Bakura is strong-willed enough, he can control back  
C) He only appears when Bakura is either really high or over-excited.  
And… D) His name means 'happy' in Japanese. Hehe… :P

That is all. Actually, no it's not. I have one more thing to say: Please review! Also… never mind.

Wee…(spins around) reviews make me happy! All reviewers shall get cookies and my humble thanks!


	5. Painless

Yeeeey, chapter five!

Thanks to... **Pork Steak the Grande** and **dragonlady222**. You both get cookies! Yeeey for the cookies/Hands out cookies/ munch munch...

Sooooryyyyy for taking longer than usual to update, but I just bought Kingdom Hearts II, and I am happy! Very muchly! Hehe...

ANYWAY, on with teh story!

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

**Painless**

_A day full of sorrow  
__There's no tomorrow  
__A life full of hate  
__You did create_

"Excuse me, but where do you think you're going?"

Bakura stopped, and Ryou gasped as he crashed into his back and fell backwards into Malik, causing them to fall to the ground. "Bakura, what's going on?"

Standing before them were about five or six policemen. The same ones, Bakura noticed, that were in the control room. The ones that he had knocked out. The ones that probably hated him for life. Oops.

The boy grinned weakly. "Um… we were just about to leave… So… see ya laterz!" He said, and tried to get around them, but they merged together to make one big wall.

One of them stepped forwards waving a big gun. He looked like the leader, with a big, shiny badge on his lapel. "By order of the president, you are not allowed to leave this building!"

Malik stepped forwards, ready for his turn. "But the freaking building is burning down! We gotta get out of here before we all burn to death! Also, playing with guns is dangerous. You know that, right?" He grinned, eying the big hunk of metal.

The man growled. He was unaccustomed to such cheek from juveniles like them. Too bad for him, he'd just have to get used to it. "You will accompany us to the car outside. You; Ryou, Bakura and Malik, don't think you're going to get away with this…"

Ryou grinned innocently. "Get away with what?"

He snarled. "You know what! Setting the place on fire! It was a daring move, yes, but daring moves tend to be stupid ones as well! And that has got to be the stupidest idea ever! Do you know how many escapees could be out there?"

"Besides us, you mean?" Amane remarked.

Bakura turned to Ryou and whispered something in his ear. He nodded, and said something to Malik and Amane. They looked worried at first, but then Ryou said something else and they nodded.

"You know what, I've had enough of your games. Remember; Richard of York gave battle in vain!" Bakura said randomly, an all too fake smile bedecking his face.

The leader guy growled, but one of the others lowered his gun a little, looking thoughtful. "Richard of York… That sounds familiar… Oh, I remember now. One of my teachers told me in high school – the colours of the rainbow."

At the word 'rainbow', Bakura snapped forwards and delivered a fatal kick in the middle of their wall, effectively making it crumple to the ground. Then Malik and Amane, led by Ryou, raced through and ran down the hallway.

Bakura snarled. "Never let your guard down, idiots!" He then jumped over one of the men on the ground, and started to run as well. But then somebody extended their arm and, either by chance or fate, caught his leg and tripped him up while he was running.

The boy gave a small, surprised gasp as he tumbled to the floor and landed on his shoulder. He kicked aimlessly, and his foot collided with something solid. That solid thing gave an almost inaudible 'oof!' and his leg was released. He immediately got up and dashed after the others.

"Hurry up, Bakura-sama!" Amane yelled, urging him on.

One of the men stood up and watched them run. He just stood there, watching them run down the long hallway before he remembered his job. He scooped up his gun and began to fire random shots at them. A dangerous thing to do, because it could accidentally hit someone else, but he didn't care.

Ryou squeaked as a bullet brushed past his ear, missing it by inches. He had been _that_ close away from being deaf _and_ dead.

But one of the bullets found it's mark – or, at least part of it.

Ryou felt a sharp pain in his arm and his hand shot up to cover it, but just gritted his teeth and kept running. They turned the corner and he cried out in joy. A door! An exit! A way out!

They darted out the door, round the corner and into a deserted warehouse. There, they fell to the ground, all out of breath. Except for Amane, of course. All she had to do was float, while the other three pushed themselves to breaking point.

"Is everyone… ok?" Bakura huffed out, still catching his breath.

"My feet hurt, it's hard for me to breathe, and I think I twisted my ankle, but apart from that, yeah, I'm fine," Malik answered, his breath barely audible. But they heard him in the echo-ness of the small warehouse.

For a while, Ryou didn't answer. Then… "My left arm hurts. It really, really hurts. I think one of the bullets clipped it," he said sullenly, keeping tears of pain back. He was not weak, he would not cry! Not for something as small as this…

Bakura and Malik worried exchanged glances, then hurried over. "Ryou, move your hand," Bakura commanded. He didn't wait for the boy to do so, he just moved his hand and gasped.

His arm had, indeed, been hit by the bullet, but he lucky that it wasn't still lodged in his arm. However, there was a deep gouge where tattered flesh lay hanging, blood oozing out in congealed heaps. Ouch. That had to hurt.

The eldest of them all stood up and walked over to a nearby tap. He turned it on, cupped his hands, and collected some water in them. He then rushed over to where Ryou was sitting and dumped it on his shoulder. Ryou gasped.

"Cold!"

Bakura grimaced. "Sorry, Ryou, but that wound has got to be cleaned, and soon. It looks pretty bad, that dude got you good. Not that I'm saying you're gonna die, or anything!" He added hastily when he saw the worried looks on Amane and Malik. "Here, I'll get you some more water."

He repeated the procedure again a few times. Then Malik stood up and took his top off. He ripped the bottom off of it, drenched it in water from the tap, and came back. He crouched down next to Ryou. "Ryou, hold your arm out," he said.

So Ryou did. He held his arm out and Malik squeezed some of the water from it onto his arm and used his top to wipe some of the remaining blood away. He then wrapped the piece he had torn off around Ryou's arm, a do-it-yourself bandage. He then put his slightly bloody top back on. Now that it had been ripped, it didn't quite cover his stomach anymore.

Malik noticed this, but he just shrugged and turned back to Ryou. "It's not the best thing ever, but it'll have to do, for now. We can steal you some proper bandages later, seeing as they probably won't just let us buy them."

The injured boy looked up at the two boys surrounding him, and he smiled. "Thank you, you two, for helping me, even though I don't really deserve it. And you, Amane, for helping break us out," he said.

But Bakura shook his head. "No, Ryou, you do deserve it. It's my fault in the first place that you got caught and stuck in that place, even if it was only for a few hours. And anyway, we do what we can to help a friend in need, right, Malik?"

"Of course! We'll always be here for you, Ryou. Whenever you need me, or Bakura, we'll be there! Always!" Malik stuck his hand out. Bakura stacked his on top. Ryou smiled, and put his on top of Bakura's. Even Amane floated over and held her hand over everybody else's.

"You'll always be there for me…? Thanks, guys…" he dragged off. But no one needed him to say anything else. They all knew what he meant.

They all let their hands drop, and Ryou leaned on Bakura's shoulder. "Kura – can I call you Kura? – what are we going to do? I mean, the police will be after us now. We can't avoid them forever… I want to go home…"

Bakura sighed. "Ryou, I'm not sure. You need medical attention, something that, sadly, we cannot provide at the moment. But first, sleep, Ryou. You must be tired…"

Ryou looked up at the white-haired boy above him, and he nodded. He lay down on the ground, and let his thoughts lull him to sleep. He imagined that he could still hear the fire crackling from the building he had just escaped from…

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Ryou groaned as he woke up, shaking the last holds of sleep from him. He sat up, to see Amane staring at him intently. "Er… Amane?"

Amane leaned back. "Hello, Ryou. I would say good morning, but it's not quite morning yet. Oh, and also…" she looked back and pointed at a tray sitting behind her, "Breakfast is ready."

He looked at the food, then back to Amane. "Thanks, Amane. I need some food in me…" he crawled over and picked up the tray, setting it on his lap. On it was an apple, an orange, a few sausages, a packet of chips and a small slice of pizza.

He picked up the apple first, and started munching at it. "Where did you get all this anyway? I'm pretty sure you won't find any food in this dump," he said, motioning to their surroundings.

Amane smirked. It was kinda funny, really, to see the ten-year-old ghost of Amane smirk. "Bakura and Malik stole it. There used to be more, but they have to eat as well."

"Speaking of them, where are they?"

The ghost girl sighed. "They've gone out for an 'indefinite period', so they said. Oh wait, they're back…"

Ryou looked up. Bakura and Malik were indeed back, they were standing in the doorway, looking proud of themselves. They came over and sat on each side of Ryou. "I see you're awake, Ryou! How are you feeling, is your arm a little better?"

"Yeah… it's a bit better…" he dragged off. It still hurt like hell, but he just didn't want the other two to worry about him. He hated people worrying about him. It was just one of his many personality quirks, or so he said. Not that he minded.

Bakura smirked, holding up some proper bandages. Malik had antiseptic, a cup, and a little cloth. Ryou rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, you stole them?"

Bakura ruffled the smaller boy's hair. "My, aren't we smart? Now gimme your arm and let us change that 'bandage', and clean it as well." Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Ryou's arm and ripped the make-shift bandage off. Blood had congealed around it a bit, but it was still pretty much an open-wound.

He then looked at Malik, who nodded and stood up. He took the cup over to their tap and filled it with water. He then dumped it beside Bakura, who dipped the cloth in it and started to clean Ryou's wound.

Ryou squeaked a little, then calmed as Bakura wrapped the bandage around his arm, already done. "Bakura, what about your injury? Surely that needs-"

"No."

The reply was blunt, and right to the point. Ryou looked a little downcast, but didn't let it get to him. "Ok then, Bakura. If that's what you want… Can we go home now?" He begged, his eyes wide and pleading.

The white-haired boy softened immediately. "Alright then, Ryou. If that's what you want, then I suppose we'll go back now…"

Ryou looked up at him, relief flooding through his body. "Thank you, Kura. Thank you so much… I'm just, I mean, I suppose I'm a bit homesick at the moment, even if it hasn't even been a proper day yet. So much has happened, I don't think I would have been able to handle it if I didn't have you guys with me…" he dragged off.

He leaned on Malik, his eyes beginning to droop shut.

"Still tired, eh? Well, go back to sleep, Ryou. It's still early," said the blonde Egyptian.

"But-"

Bakura leaned forwards, and pressed a finger to his lips. "No buts, Ryou. You're tired, so sleep. We'll carry you home."

The whitenette opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it and nodded. Then he fell dead asleep. Bakura sighed. "Put him on my back, Malik. I'll carry him back."

Malik nodded, and put both hands on Ryou's shoulders. Bakura turned around, and the blonde heaved Ryou up. They stood, and without looking back at the stuff laying randomly on the floor, they crept out of the small warehouse and ventured down the road.

"Admit it, Bakura. I haven't know you for long, but I've known you long enough to know that you're freaking head over heels for our poor little Ryou," Malik said randomly, his eyes glinting in the darkness of the early morning.

"Nani?!"

The Egyptian snickered. "See! I knew it! Bakura's in L-O-V-E with Ryou-chan!" He said in a sing-song-y voice.

Bakura growled dangerously. "Yeah, yeah, keep it up, baka. See where it gets you; a smack around the head and a boot up the pants. You're lucky I'm carrying Ryou, or else you would be so dead by now…"

Malik stuck his tongue out. "Well, it's lucky for me that you're occupied, isn't it?" He snickered, and ran forward. "Everybody, Bakura's in LOVE! Ooh, big bad Bakura's finally found someone! Aw, aren't they cute? Ooh, Bakura's blushing!"

Amane laughed. "Bakura-sama, you got yourself into this, you should be able to get yourself out. But you know…" she dragged off, tapping her chin with her finger. "You never said you that _didn't_ like him, Bakura-sama…"

"D stands for Daring and that's how Kura acts 'round Ryou, E stands for Excited for how he is when Ryou's around, N stands for Nonchalant which Bakura definitely isn't, I stands for In Love and that's what Bakura is, A stands for Awesome which Bakura thinks Ryou is, L stands for Lie and that's what Bakura's doing because he's in denial, yeah, DENIAL!" Malik sang, receiving scary glares from Bakura. But Bakura did find it quite amusing that the blonde in front of him could think of a song out of nowhere. He almost thought Malik rehearsed it in the mirror, but it's likely said teen was quite wrong. Especially since he hadn't seen a mirror in weeks.

"Let's just get out of here…"

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"Nngh…" he mumbled, trying to shake the last remnants of sleep from him, though it wasn't quite working. He opened one eye to see pretty white stones bobbing up and down. Or maybe it was him doing the bobbing. What? "Bakura?"

"Nope, Malik," was the slightly jagged reply. "I see you're awake, Ryou. I think we're going to be at your house soon. Do you want to walk now?"

Ryou nodded. "Mph, yesh please. I feel so… useless," he said as he was lowered to the ground. He stood up, his legs wobbling slightly, so he used Malik as his thing to lean on. "Thanks, Malik, for carrying me. I feel so… yawn tired…"

Malik shook his head, his golden bangs falling over his face before he flicked them away. "No problem, Ry, you know I just want to help. 'Cause when you become a hotshot writer one day, you will remember me as the first person who told you to go for it!"

The whitenette laughed. How just like Malik! But then, he realised something, and stopped. "Malik, where's Bakura and Amane? Weren't they… where were they in the first place?"

The Egyptian jerked a thumb over behind his back. "They're following behind us, just talking. Or, at least, Bakura's talking and Amane's nodding her head in agreement," he smirked.

Ryou followed his thumb and looked back, indeed finding Bakura and Amane walking slowly behind them. They were talking softly, too soft for Ryou to properly hear what they were talking about. He heard a few mentions of him and Amane, he heard the words murder and death a lot too.

Way too curious, he ran to them, ignoring the warning from Malik not to do so. "Bakura! I need to ask you something!" He yelled, running towards them.

Said person looked up and smirked. "Yo, Ry, I see you're awa- Ryou, look out!" He screamed…

…Just as Ryou turned around to see motorbike ram into him at full speed.

"Ba…kura?" He gasped as he fell down, blackness swimming through his head. He felt strong, muscular arms catch him, and he knew no more…

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"…_Ry? Ryou, is that you? Ry, wh-what are you doing? …Ry?"_

Now looking back, I wish I had more courage…_ He huddled up on the ground, hands over his ears, weeping silently. "No more death," he whispered. "No more rage," he murmured._

"…_No more loss…" he whimpered._

_He imagined himself in a room. A room with no windows, no doors, no passageway through to the outside room. In that room, he imagined, was him, hiding in the corner with no one to see the pathetic thing he had grown to become. He didn't want anyone to see him anymore. He didn't want to see anyone. All he wanted was to be left alone._

_But in this room he imagined, there was a table. On that table there was blood. Blood that he had spilt from himself, and others. The blood that haunted his every waking hour, as well as those times he was not awake._

_He could not get rid of that table. He could not get rid of the blood. He could not change the room in any way, even though he himself had imagined it. Even though it was his own creation, he could not undo it._

_He cowered from his own cowardice. He dared not turn against the ones he had grown to fear! The ones that had enslaved him, the ones that had made him turn against his people, his world, his life…_

_To be born anew._

_What was so special about that? Nothing. There was no point in it! What's the use… he was nothing. He could not think for himself. Not since… not since the transformation. Not that he had ever been a 'normal' child. His grandparents hated it. His powers, that is._

_Long ago, when he was barely four or five, he discovered he could control things with his mind. He could make them do whatever he wanted. He could… He could make windows shatter just by thinking about it. He could make things break just by looking at it. He could make people kill just by asking them to._

_But he couldn't use his powers for good. No matter how hard he tried, nothing good ever came of his abilities. Nothing he did would make his power more controllable. Like 'Kura always said: Wherever light goes, it finds the darkness has got there first and is waiting for it._

_He never used to understand this. Kura's knowledge is so advanced for a twelve year old. But now he got it. He understands now, he'll never be able to control it. Whenever he feels angry, or immense hatred, or overwhelming sadness, with it comes the irresistible urge to let it out. And his ability does that for him._

_It lashes out at whoever's closest. It doesn't stop to think whether or not this is helping, or making matters worse. It seems to have a mind of itself, it does._

_That's why. He locks away all his emotions, just to make sure he doesn't hurt anymore. He doesn't want to be the cause of any more pain. Of anymore loss. Of anymore death…_

"_Ry, what are you doing here? They're waiting for you, you know. Just come…" somebody tried coaxing him, her voice sweet and forgiving, yet very, very harsh. He knew who it was. He knew who's waiting for him. He knew what would happen. But he didn't want to go! And no one could make him! No her, not Them, not even Bakura! Well… maybe Kura…_

_He shook his head, white bangs falling over his face. But he didn't wipe them away, and maybe he never would. "No, Mana. I… I don't want to go. I don't want to see anymore people die, either by my hands or someone else's. I know that through all these years, I've never said a word of resistance. Never shown any sign of remorse, or anything, but I just can't take it anymore! I… can't…"_

'_Mana' shook her head. She was wearing a plain-ish cream dress with a funny looking hat that covered her brown hair. Her… eh, you know what? She looks like a human version of the Dark Magician Girl, so there. "Ryou, I know you don't want to be here at this moment, and you probably hate me now, but-"_

"_You got it."_

"_But you really do need to get going," she continued on as if he hadn't interrupted her, "because They will not be pleased with you if you stay here any longer. Besides, Bakura-dono's waiting for you too…" She said, her cheeks a faint red tinge. She liked Bakura, that much he actually knew. It would crush her heart if she found out Bakura wasn't… well, didn't like girls._

_Mana put her arms on his shoulders and lifted him up a little. "Ryou… please? For me?" She asked, pulling him close._

_Feeling a little numb, Ryou nodded. She squealed. "Thank you, Ryou-chan! Let's go!" She latched her arm onto his and started to drag him out the room. What an over-enthusiastic kid._

_He wrenched his arm free of her grasp, but pulled a little too hard and fell to the ground, crashing his head against the smooth marble surface. Ouch._

_Mana looked back. "Ohmigosh, are you ok?" She asked, looking a bit stricken._

_Shaking his head a little, he smiled. "Ye-Yeah, I'm fine…"_

_She laughed, stretching an arm his way._

_Ryou smiled, and reached up. "W-What…?" He gasped. Black smoke circled his arm lazily, then clung to it like skin-tight clothes. The smoke spread down his arm, onto his chest, and up round his head. He choked. "M-Mana!"_

_He looked up. Mana's smiling face had vanished, taking the room with her._

"_H-Help me! Please! Anybody!" He cried out, panicked. But his cries were not answered. His screams for help was heard by nobody. He was left alone at the mercy of the black smoke._

_Then he felt his foot sink into the floor. He looked down, and gasped. The floor below him was disappearing, leaving nothing but black. All black._

"_N-No…!"He yelled, as his other foot sunk in as well. He thrashed his feet, but that did nothing but make him sink faster. His body felt weird, neither here nor there._

_And then- he was gone…_

…_Falling into the dark._

_His feet touched something solid, and he stood. Still in the darkness. He screamed, his voice going nowhere. "Hello…? Is anyone there?"_

"Even though I'm the sacrifice, you won't try for me not now…"

_Ryou shivered. The voice came from nowhere, yet… everywhere. It seemed to be singing in his head. A sweet song, lulling him to sleep. It made him feel… peaceful…_

"_Our fears and lies… melt away…"_

"_W-Who is that?" He whispered, but didn't expect anyone to answer. Much to his surprise, he got one._

_The voice was soft and melodic, yet he could feel malice and cruelty hidden deep within. "Ryou… You know who I am, don't you?"_

_He shivered, recognition gleaming in his eyes. "Y-You…" He whimpered, arms over his head._

_He ran, and ran, and ran, seeing nothing but black, feeling nothing but the cold of the darkness, hearing nothing but his own breath._

_The voice laughed. "You can't hide from me, you know. You can't run, my little Ryou. For, you see, I _am _you. Wherever you go, I'll be there too. That pest, Bakura, was right, you know. You are the light. I am the dark. Wherever you go, you find that I'm already there waiting for you."_

_Ryou screamed. "No! You are not me! I'm not… you're not… you're not like me at all!"_

_The voice tutted. "Well, you're half right. While I am you, I am not completely you. I am the opposite of pretty much everything you are. I am strong, whereas you are weak. I have ultimate power, while you have nothing. Get used to it, my little pet!"_

_Laughter echoed around him, making him shiver. "You are… Dark Ryou…? Dark me?"_

_Suddenly, the laughter stopped. "No! Well, yes, but that's not how _I _think of it. I am _the _one, and you are my light. You are Light Ryou. Savvy?"_

_He nodded. "Y-Yes," he said, then screamed as pain filtered through his body._

"_Yes master!" Said 'Dark Ryou', obviously angry._

"_Y-y-y-y…"_

_He fell to the ground, defeated._

"YES, MASTER!"

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"E-excuse me?!"

Ryou's eyes snapped open. "No!" He screamed, slapping the tanned face above him. He squeaked as he was dropped, his injured shoulder hitting the pavement first. "Ouch!"

Malik's hand flew to his face, covering the angry red mark that had sprung up. "Hey, Bakura, Ryou's awake…" he said, holding in his anger, converting it to energy and storing it for later use.

The white-haired boy walked over and looked at them. Ryou was on the ground, looking a little scared, and Malik was standing there, looking at nothing in particular. He smirked. "No kidding."

The blonde Egyptian growled. " 'No kidding,' eh? Is that all you have to say? Geez, you could at least say 'are you ok?'. Or how about 'how are you feeling?'. No? What about 'you got hit by a freaking CAR. Are you SURE you're not about to die a painful death?'"

Ryou looked up, confused. "I got hit by a car? Wow, do I have the worst luck…"

"Well, technically, it wasn't a car, just a motorbike, but yeah, you do have bad luck. What are you, some sort of beacon for trouble?" He mocked, poking Ryou on the nose.

Ryou scowled, and bite at his finger. Bakura drew back with a yelp, and Ryou felt oddly satisfied. "That's what you get for poking me on the nose! And also, I feel fine. I just have a bit of a head-ache, that's all."

"Well, I'm afraid that just won't do, now will it?"

"What?" Bakura, Ryou, Malik and Amane all looked up to see a hooded man in black standing on top of a two-story apartment building.

Bakura growled, standing in front of Ryou in a defensive position. "Stay away from Ryou, you hear me? I know who sent you! Now show yourself! Which one are you!"

The hooded man smirked, but they could barely tell, since the hood was covering most of his face.

Ryou's body went cold with fear as the man pulled back his hood, revealing a scarred face and red, shoulder-legnth hair. Bakura scowled. "You."

"Me," the man said back.

"Kura, who is this?" Ryou asked, tugging at the hem of his pants.

"This, Ryou, is _Tenshi no Tsuki's_ number five." Bakura scowled. "This… is Varon."

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Meh. My attempt at the denial song thing --

Ooh... fear the big bad evil guy! Also, is it Varon or Valon? I'm confuzzled...

Aw, I'm so mean to Ryou! Soorrryyy! I promise I'll be nicer... maybe... just a bit... :P who knows? Aaaaanyway, I've forgotten what else I wanted to say, so I'll just say the same thing I say at the end of every chapter...

Please Review! n.n


	6. Helpless

Aaah! It's (sorta) lost it's angsty-ness! Um... well, I suppose that's for you people to decide... --

Weeeee chapter six! Sorry about the long wait, but I got Kingdom Hearts II and I've been playing it almost all the time I had! And I had a short story to write for English... but now I'm updating! Hehe. Is it time for a disclaimer? Well, here's one anyway

Disclaimer: Only in my wildest dreams will YuGiOh! be mine. And I'm pretty sure dreams can't come real, so Kazuki Takahashi is still the (proud) owner of it. --

Also, be prepared for a very, _very _OOC Varon! I only used him because I couldn't think of anyone else, really... v.v so... sorry if anyone's offended by this:)

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

**Helpless**

_A shattered dream  
__For it would seem  
__A broken fate  
__Now filled with hate_

"…Varon?" Ryou squeaked.

The person who's name was apparently Varon smirked. "Wow, am I so famous that you know me already? Oh, the humiliation! Wait… that's not right…" He stopped for a moment, apparently thinking.

Bakura sweatdropped. "Still have that indecisiveness thingy, I see…" he dragged off.

"Hey!" Varon yelled from his place on top of the ceiling. "That's not fair! You're not the one that got 'brain surgery', so I suggest you shut the hell up before I decide to come down there and kick your butt!"

The white-haired male smirked. "And how long would it take you to 'decide' to do that? A minute? Hour? Week?" He snorted. "Forget it, Varon. You're still just a miserable wanna-be hunter, and you know it! Exactly _who _was your teacher!"

Varon flinched. Apparently, the comment got to him. "You…" he whispered. "But I learned things that you'll never ever know! I learned… what did I learn…?"

The Egyptian that had been kind of switched out of the conversation, suddenly came back in and decided it was a good time to be stupid. Well… not really. I'm just saying that because I can't think of anything else to write…

Anyway, Malik waltzed forward, and casually leaned on Bakura's shoulder. What they didn't know was that he was really talking to him. "So… Bakura… who is this nutcase? I don't think I've ever seen him about this part of town before…" He mused, now talking half to himself and half to the boy next to him.

"Oh. This is just Varon. He's not the brightest of the lot, and I'm surprised that he's even in the group, with his mind problems. I mean, sometimes, the man thinks he's a chicken! I bloody chicken, I say!" Bakura said exasperatedly. "And he sure does act like one, sometimes…" he added thoughtfully.

Just then, Varon's haunting voice reached both their ears. "Are you talking about me? I know you're talking about me. I don't like it, you know. It's mean!"

Malik rolled his eyes. "Like you're one to be saying that in the first place."

"What do you mean by that? I haven't done anything to hurt you yet. In fact, all I've done is talk to you from my place on top of this building…" The red-head dragged off.

Amane floated by. "He's right, you know."

"**Anyway**, I have a job to do," he started, with emphasis on the word 'anyway'. "And I fully attend to do it." He jumped down from the building. The two-story building. The jump that would have crushed any normal person. But not him. He then pointed a finger at Ryou. "It's time to come back home, Ryou-dearest…"

Varon darted forwards. Ryou's eyes widened when he realized what was going on, and he jumped out of the way of the man chasing him. The red-head snarled, lashing out after Ryou again.

The whitenette yelled as Varon's hand caught his ankle, his abnormally long fingernails digging into his pale skin. "Bakura! Malik! Help me, please!" He cried out.

Bakura and Malik broke out of the eerie trance they seemed to be in before, and jumped forwards. Malik tried prying Varon's fingers off of Ryou, while Bakura forgot all subtlety and just kicked him in the ribs. Varon cried out and released Ryou.

The stricken boy jumped up, cowering behind Bakura and resisting the urge to bury his face in his top. He was scared, and he wouldn't deny it. Denial would only make things worse.

"Look, you two. This is nothing personal, I'm just doing my job, m'kay? That good enough for you?" Varon snarled, grabbing Malik's hand and throwing him down. He then rolled over, caught Bakura's foot as he was about to kick, and tripped him up. "So it would be nice if you two just took your business somewhere else," he said, jumping up and running back after Ryou.

Ryou yelped, and ran off, trying to out-run the person chasing him. But it was a lost cause, and he knew it. Varon was trained for this kind of thing. He went through years of training before he was allowed to be let out. And him? He was just a skinny little defenseless girl compared to him.

He gasped as an arm snaked its way around his middle, pulling him back. "You're right, Ryou. I am better than you. I'm better than that brat, Bakura, too, but he just doesn't want to admit it," a voice whispered in his ear, and he tensed.

"Leave me alone, Varon," he whispered in a weak attempt to defend himself.

Varon cackled. "No can do, I'm sorry. I have to take you back home, you know."

"Varon! Leave him alone! What did he ever do to you!" Bakura shouted, stalking up behind the two of them.

The red-haired male turned around, his eyes glinting. "He killed my family, Bakura. He killed my friends. And this… this is my revenge. And as they say, revenge sure is sweet."

Malik growled, advancing behind the pair. He launched himself forwards, latching his arms around Varon's neck. He then pulled back, choking the captor. Varon paled a bit, his free hand raking at Malik's arms.

The Egyptian cried out as his fingernails dug deep into his skin, gouging out a bit of blood. He let go, just as Bakura charged forwards and head-butted Varon in the stomach.

With a small 'oof', he let go of Ryou and fell down to his knees, clutching his winded stomach.

"H-Heal," he gasped out, and a strange, green light hovered over his stomach, targeting the area's of pain. _A healing spell,_ Bakura thought ruefully. _Great._

Varon smirked, jumping back up into action. "You can't keep me down for long!" He announced, and ran after Ryou once more.

"This is getting old…" Malik sighed, nursing his bleeding arm. A rush of air made his hair flutter a bit as Ryou ran past, only to be followed by Varon. Smirking slightly, he extended his foot, and the aforementioned red-head tripped over it, landing face-first into the concrete.

"Ouch!" He exclaimed, but got back up nonetheless.

Bakura growled. "Geez, what does it take to keep you down, dammit!" He swore, and launched himself at him again. Swinging his fists wildly, one came in contact with his jaw, and Varon went flying over some nearby bushes.

Slightly dazed, he wiped his jaw with his hand, and pulled back to see drops of blood falling from them.

Ryou stared dumbly at him, slightly unbelieving that Bakura had punched him into the bushes. He stretched a quivering arm Varon's way, and declared: "You're bleeding."

Amane laughed, tired of being forgotten. "No kidding," she remarked.

The red-head growled, and once again launched himself at Ryou. This time, his aim was true, and his lithe fingers wrapped around Ryou's neck. He then extracted a pocket-knife he had kept hidden and put it dangerously close to his face.

"Take one more step and the boy dies," he said ominously, his voice serious and deep. Ryou gulped. He did not like this. He did not like this at all.

Bakura raised his foot to move, but Varon pushed the knife against Ryou's cheek, and he stopped. His eyes softened, showing an infinite amount of pain and hurt. They didn't know how much it killed him to see Ryou like that again, so defenseless and vulnerable…

He stretched his arm towards them. "Ryou…" he whimpered. "Ryou… give me my Ryou back…"

The aforementioned boy's eyes met with Bakura's, and he tensed. No… No… He could not give up… "Don't give up hope, Bakura! Please!"

Varon growled. "Shut up, you useless runt," he spat.

Then suddenly, he released Ryou and darted forwards. Coming in front of Malik, he whacked him on the head with the butt of his knife. He fell down with an almost inaudible 'oof'. Then, he appeared in front of Bakura, and swung the knife-handle against his head.

Bakura blinked, and fell down. "Ryou…" an opaque tear escaped from Bakura's eye, before he fell to the ground and knew no more.

"Bakura…? Bakura!?" Ryou screamed. He stood up, and ran towards them, only to be held back by yet another tug around his middle. "No!" He screamed again, scratching at the arms that held him tight. "Get away from me, you freaking idiot!"

He tried to tear himself away from Varon's iron grip, but it didn't quite work.

Varon growled. "Don't you know how to shut up?!" And with that said, he pushed his thumb against the sensitive part of Ryou's neck, and he was out-cold in seconds.

"Whelp, time to go," he said, hefting the unconscious boy on his shoulder and starting a long walk to wherever he was going. But Ryou knew that whatever happened now would change his life forever.

And damn, was he right.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"Meh…?" Ryou grumbled, holding his aching head. He felt like shit, and probably looked that way too. It seemed like he was… swinging? Swinging upside-down?

He opened one eye to find that he was, indeed, swinging back and forth, his head hitting something hard everytime he swung forwards. And whenever it did hit it, everything went black for a few seconds, and then he could see again. Hm… what?

What happened to him? How come he was swinging back and forth? Why couldn't he remember what happened? Why was he upside-down? And why did his head hurt like hell? So many questions, no answers.

And then, his memories rushed back and he gasped. They had just escaped from that police place to find some random called Varon standing on a building. They exchanged a few insults, engaged in some sort of fight, and Varon left, taking him too.

Instantly, he struggled against the vice-like grip around his middle. He screamed, kicked and yelled, banging his fists against the thing he kept on hitting when he swung. Presumably, it was Varon's back.

"Let me go! Let me go, you crazy, sadistic, psycho son-of-a-bitch!" He yelled, his head crashing into his back as Varon stopped, lowering Ryou onto the ground, but still keeping his arm around his middle.

He turned him round, and looked at the quivering boy. Small tears were running down his face, and his hair looked messy and unkempt. All in all, he looked like shit. "You look like shit."

Ryou growled, breaking eye contact and looking away. "Shut up."

Varon smirked, grabbed his chin and made the boy look at him. He pushed a finger against his lips, effectively silencing him. "Shh. We're here. Take a look at your home for the next coupla days," he said, and spun Ryou around, his arm still locked tightly around his middle.

The whitenette scowled. All he could see was a cave. An empty void with nothing inside. Typical for him to have chosen such a spot. Who would come looking for him here? And as an added bonus, it was right on the edge of a shearing cliff. Happy? I think not.

"Aw, come on. It might not seem like much on the outside, but inside, it's really quite cool, you know. At least give it a chance…" Varon insisted. One might think that Varon was letting the boy have a choice in the matter, but Ryou knew better. He was staying here whether he liked it or not.

"So move," Varon said, his voice changing immediately. He poked him in the back, and led him inside the cave. At first, Ryou could not see anything, but if he strained his eyes hard enough, he could see a thick, stone wall at the end of the tunnel/cave thing.

He blinked. A dead-end. But if it was, then why was he being led here? To be shot, skinned and eaten? He shivered. Not a nice thought. "Why are we here? There's… there's nothing here…"

The red-head smirked. "So you think. Keep moving, we're almost there."

A couple of minutes later, they reached the wall, and Ryou saw he was right. It was a dead-end. No other way to go, no turns to make, just the wall. The solid, probably very hard wall.

Varon smirked, seeing the disbelief in Ryou's eyes. He rapped on the wall two times, paused, then hit it another four. A few seconds later, the rock moved, and Ryou was faced with a very, _very _long tunnel. There were twists and turns everywhere! Even if he did escape Varon's clutches, he would get lost trying to get out!

"This," Varon motioned to the winding tunnels, "is our very own security system. It keeps all trespassers out, and…" he eyed Ryou, "All our prisoners in. It's rigged with camera's, motion sensors, sound detectors, trip-wires, dead-ends, trick paths and, if worse comes to worst, a self-destruct. See! No evading Varon the almighty!"

He beamed at his made-up nickname, and continued down the winding pathways. After many hours of trekking, complaining, and being poked in the back, Ryou decided to say something. "This isn't really necessary, is it? There's a shorter path, you just don't want me to remember it, ne? Also, if you say there are so many traps to… trap me, why haven't any gone off?"

Varon smiled, and pulled a remote-like thingamabob out of one of his many pockets. "I can control them all with this! You put one toe out of line, I can have you blasted into Timbuktu!" He said proudly, waving the remote beneath Ryou's face, before pulling it back and caressing it softly.

"And I suppose I'm to believe this with no proof whatsoever?" Ryou asked. "I mean, for all I know, that could be the remote for Some Random's garage door!" He yelled, and folded his arms, refusing to walk another step.

The red-head laughed bitterly. "Oho! Looks like Ryou's got spunk! Where'd ya learn it – wait, don't tell me – from your poor ol' Grandma?" He mocked. "Fine then. If you want proof, I'll show you just what it can do!"

He pushed three buttons in a sequence and waited a few seconds. Nothing happened. He fumed a bit, and banged it against some near-by rock. "Come on, you stupid piece of shit, work!" He banged it again, then stopped. "Oh… I see… forgot to turn it on…"

He grinned sheepishly, and pushed a red button up the top of the remote. It flickered a bit, then turned green. "Haha!" He yelled triumphantly, and pushed the same three buttons in the same order again.

Ryou yelped in surprise as he was scooped up from under his legs, stuck in a wire net dangling from the ceiling. "Is that all?!" He yelled, quite unimpressed. _This is what happens in movies, not in real life, dammit!_

"Oh, that's not all. Just wait and see, Ryou-dearest," Varon smirked, pointing to Ryou's left.

Ryou looked, and paled at what he saw. A whole bunch of arrows were flying his way, with no escape! Sure, one would think you could duck, and have the arrows cut the net, but alas, that would not be. The arrows were packed so tightly together in such a large group, it left no room for ducking.

He wrapped his lithe fingers around the wire, and started rattling it. "Varon! Let me down!" He screamed, his eyes wide.

Varon sighed exaggeratedly. "I suppose… I would probably be beheaded if anything happened to you anyway…" He pushed a button uninterestedly, and the net fell from the ceiling, bringing Ryou with it.

He landed on his back in an ungraceful heap. "Ow! That hurt!"

"Do you believe me now?" Varon smirked, waving the remote wildly in his hand. He pushed the red-now-green button, and it turned red again.

Ryou scowled. "Go stick your head in a toilet."

Varon laughed. "Well waddya know, you've still got some spunk left, even after that! You're more that I gave you credit for, boy. Anyway, time to move on." He said, and pushed him forwards again.

"Where are we going?!"

"Sometimes I think you're blind. We're already there, you dip," the red-head announced, poking Ryou again.

"What-?" He looked forwards and there was nothing but rock. But then Varon pushed another button, and a rock that blocked their path shimmered, then disappeared altogether. He gasped.

"Welcome to your new home."

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Ryou stood gasping at the sight of what looked like an under-ground city. And maybe it was. There were people scurrying around carrying fruit baskets, people selling things in small stalls, and even some kids playing in the 'streets'. "W-What…?"

Varon smirked, standing beside him. "Like what you see? This is our own personal hide-out in Domino City. It's where the rejects, outlaws, and runaways stay. It's like… a save haven for them. The _only _safe haven now that all these new laws are in place." He rolled his eyes, and prodded him inside.

The prod shook him out of his awe, and he started to walk down some stone steps and let Varon steer him from there. It was… amazing. But, no matter how amazing it was, he had to get out of there, pronto!

"Come on…" Varon said impatiently, poking him on the back again.

Ryou walked obediently, trying to remember the path they were taking. Like they say: 10 seconds of observation can be crucial to someone's escape route. Ok, so they don't say that all the time, but they should.

"Just around this corner…" The red-head muttered, making Ryou turn down a narrow corridor that he didn't even know was there until Varon mentioned it. He entered walked behind a small, raggedy piece of cloth that hung over an otherwise uncovered stone entrance.

They walked in, and this time, Ryou was not looking at his surroundings. Rather, he was looking at a chair sitting innocently by the door. Even more precise, he was looking at the big, concrete block that sat upon it. And thinking about how much damage he could do with that.

Varon tapped his foot impatiently. "Come on, whitey, we don't have all day… Actually, we do, but I don't have enough patience to wait that long…"

The whitenette rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, idiot. I'm coming…" He sauntered forwards a few steps, but not that many. Apparently satisfied, Varon turned to walk away down the hallway. BIG mistake.

Slinking quietly, Ryou stalked over to where the brick lay, wrapping his fingers around it and hefting it up. It was actually lighter than he thought it would be, which was good. It would be easier for him to carry it, yet it was still heavy enough to effectively knock someone out for a _very _long time.

Panting slightly, he ran forwards and slammed the brick down onto Varon's head.

The red-head blinked, then fell down in a crumpled heap on the floor, hardly expecting a blow like that from someone like him. Meh. Nobody would miss him for a few hours anyway.

Ryou turned to run, but stopped. _The traps… damn. How am I supposed to get past them?_ He thought. Then he remembered – the remote.

He turned back, and jogged over to where Varon lay. He reached down in his pocket, and fished out the little remote thingamabob. And _then _he ran out the small room and into the streets.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"MAH!" Bakura screamed as he jolted upright, eyes wildly searching the area around him. He saw Malik lying not far away, and Amane hovering nearby, doing nothing but stare at him. "A-Amane?"

"Bakura-sama," she replied.

"What happened?"

Amane stared at him blankly, then opened her mouth to talk. "Varon showed up. He ran after Ryou. You two started to fight him. He took Ryou hostage. Then he knocked you both out and ran off with Ryou," she said, which pretty much summarized all that had happened.

"Really?" Bakura replied dumbly, holding his head in his hands. "So that's what happened. He must have hit me pretty hard to make me forget something like that…"

The ghost snickered. "Prob'ly. He did hit you pretty hard you know…"

Bakura scowled. "Was that supposed to be an insult? Coz I don't feel very insulted at the moment. Very sore, yes, but insulted? No. Not one bit," he said, standing up. He wobbled a bit, then staggered over to Malik. He dropped down beside him, and shook him.

"Malik? Malik! Time to wake up!" He yelled in the Egyptian's ear, shaking him again.

"Nngh! Go 'way… I'm still tired…" He mumbled, swatting Bakura away and rolling over on his side.

The white-haired boy smirked. "Fine then. We'll just have to get you up my way." He picked the 'sleeping' boy up, and dumped him in the nearby bushes. Needless to say, Malik woke with a yelp.

"BAKURA! Geez! Couldn't you have found a better way to wake me up?!" Malik yelled.

Bakura shrugged, and walked off. "Well, I tried waking you the friendly way, and that didn't work, so I did that instead," he yelled over his arm. "Anyway, we gotta get moving!"

The Egyptian groaned, and rolled out of the bush. He stood up and shook his head, trying to through off whatever holds sleep still had on him. "Fine then. Where are we going to this time?"

"Actually… I have no idea…" Bakura admitted, turning to face him. "Amane, do you know where that dude took Ryou?"

Amane tapped her chin in deep thought, trying to remember. "Well, they went thata way," she started, pointing down a merry looking road with raspberry bushes lining the path. "And then turned left down that road over there."

Bakura sweatdropped. 'A merry looking road with raspberry bushes lining the path' eh? That was just… kinda weird. "Alright then! Down the road it is!"

He started to march forwards, his arms swinging comically beside him, like the wooden soldiers do. But he stopped when he noticed nobody was following him. "Are you guys coming?" he called back.

Malik was standing with Amane, who was doing nothing. Absolutely nothing, just floating there. Her eyes were shut, but there was a faint aura around her. It was… kinda weird. "Um… guys, what are you doing? We need to get going…" Bakura dragged off.

"Shush," Malik whispered, pressing a finger to his lips. "Amane needs full concentration for this. She's tracking down Ryou, figuring out where he is. It seems that Amane's the only one that can do it, and we don't really know where he is, so I suggest you be quiet…"

Bakura huffed, crossing his arms. Imagine; someone younger than him telling him what to do! But he quieted himself anyway. Malik had a point, but he wouldn't say that aloud. Malik would never let it rest!

Then suddenly, Amane went stiff, and her eyes snapped open. "I know where he is," she started, her voice a silent whisper. "He's in a cliff above the seas. But he's moving – and fast. I think he might be running… from what, I can't tell you. And I'm sorry, but I can't come with you."

"What! Why not?" Bakura and Malik blurted out at the same time. Then they turned and looked at each other, glaring daggers.

Amane shook her head, smiling sadly. "I'm afraid I can't leave this part of the city. It comes with being cursed to wander this world until someone sets me free. I'm sorry, guys. I want to help save my brother, but I just can't…"

The two boys looked sympathetically at her. Or, as sympathetically as they could, anyway. "It's ok. We understand. Don't we, Malik?"

"What? Oh… OH. Yeah, of course! It's no problem, ghost sister of Ryou's. We can find him just fine without your help. Oh wait… that didn't come out right. Erm… what I meant was… um… I can't remember?" Malik grinned, rubbing the back of his head.

Bakura shook his head, and whacked Malik on the forehead. "Come on, Malik! Pull yourself together!" He yelled, then turned to Amane. "Thanks for all your help, Amane. And I'm sorry for what They did to you. I promise, there will be vengeance, both for you, Ryou… and me. They will pay, I'll make sure of that!"

Amane chuckled. "And you're just the one for the job, Bakura-sama. I'm sure you will…" she dragged off, her body becoming more translucent by the second. Something that both Bakura and Malik (surprisingly) noticed.

The white-haired thief was the first to make a comment. "Hey, Amane, what's happening to your body? Why are you fading out like that?"

"Well, I'm no longer needed here, so it's my fate to fade away, only to come back when somebody needs me, or sets me free. But, fading away isn't the same as being freed. You still exist, just in a type of limbo thing. It's hard to explain…" she added when she saw both boys opening their mouths to say something.

"Well then… we only have one more thing to do…"

Bakura looked at Malik, who looked back, and nodded. Malik nodded too.

_It's time._

Neither of them said this out loud, but it was etched in both of their minds. It was time to set Amane free. It was time her soul got to travel to the great beyond, wherever it might be.

The thief held his hand out to Malik, who took it and held it tight. They both closed their eyes, and Bakura started to chant. Malik said as much as he could, which wasn't really that much, but he tried.

"_Tnedicni tuohtiw dna, yllufecaep ecalp gnitser eht hcaer ehs yam. Eerf, slatrom eht fo mlear eht rednaw ot demood neeb dah ohw, arukab enama fo luos eht tes ybereh kilam dna arukab._

"_Amine"_

They chanted this over a couple of times, then dropped their hands and opened their eyes. Amane was looking back at them, smiling happily. Although she was fading faster now, she looked happier than she had ever been since they met her.

"Thank you, Bakura-sama, Malik. Thank you two so much. You… you set my soul free. I can truly be at peace now. Arigato gozaimasu(1)…" And she disappeared.

But even though her physical image was long gone from the face of this planet, it would be a long time before any of them forgot Amane's smiling face, thanking them before she vanished entirely. Too bad Ryou wasn't there. This was truly a moment to remember.

"Come on, you big sap, don't cry," Bakura laughed, tugging Malik's arm. "So. Are you coming with me to get Ryou, or are you going back to wherever it is you go? Whatever you choose, it doesn't bother me, so take your time."

Malik laughed. "What do you think, you dip? That I would just take off and erase you from my life? Hell no! I'm coming with you! And besides, if I let you go off on your own, you'd most likely kill yourself on the way, or something…"

"Right then. Let's go!" The white-haired boy yelled out enthusiastically, and marched off with Malik in tow.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Well, there goes another chapter! This one's a bit on the short side... but hey... it's all good...

There must be something wrong with Bakura and Malik; always being unconscious while someone kidnaps Ryou! Geez, wake up!

Here's the note thingy:

(1) Pretty much means 'thank you' in japanese. So... yea

R&R people:)


	7. Friendless

Huzzah! Be happy! I finally got chapter seven up! Yeeeey for me! Ahem. Please pardon my 'yey-ness'. I'm sorta happy at the moment n.n

And I'm feeling proud of myself! I just biked all the way to the city library and back. And, of course, you probably don't care... whatever.

Also, IT'S THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS! (Where I am, that is. Probably not for a lot of other people... --). Anyway... here ya go!

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

**Friendless**

_Hope will die  
__Faith be crushed  
__Destiny is gone  
__Despair all 'round _

"Eep!" Ryou yelped as he was scooped out from underneath and hauled into the air. Trapped in a wire net. Again. Damn. He turned his head and, sure enough, there were the arrows, flying straight towards him.

After being caught like that the first time, he had come up with a solution to avoiding the arrows, and getting a way out. So, with barely seconds to rethink whatever was going on inside his head, he executed his plan in a way only Ryou could.

Reaching up, he wrapped his lithe fingers around the wire mesh and pulled himself up, sticking his feet through the little holes for support. And not a moment too soon. The arrows whizzed below him – he could even feel the air heating up beneath his feet – and cut the wire. A way out!

Smirking victoriously, he let go, dropping to the ground. To him, it was more fun to leave the traps on. More things to get past, he thought. Just like his life. He could take the easy way out – just die and be done with it – but he didn't. He held on, kept living, making the most of what was left of his life.

Now, he was practically in the middle of nowhere. In two directions, there was nothing but rock. Beside him and ahead of him were the only ways to go. He took the second option without another thought.

Crouching low, he ran forwards, darting quietly through the silent tunnels. He couldn't remember exactly which way they had come, but he had a vague idea. And he had a plan – just follow the tunnels and see where they lead.

It was a simple, yet effective plan. He only had trouble when he had to choose between turns, or had to backtrack because of a dead-end. It was quite frustrating, really.

"Come on… come on… yes!" Ryou exclaimed when he saw what he thought was a bright light at the end of the tunnel (lol :P). He ran faster, and was almost there when…

"Ouch!" … He crashed head-first into a something hard and fell to the ground.

He looked up. Standing there was… well, truth be told, he didn't know who it was. The person was wearing a big, black cloak that covered his (or her) entire figure. It didn't help that his (or her) cloak had a hood attached to it that masked his (or her) entire face as well.

The person stretched it's arm out, helping Ryou stand. "Wh-Who are you?" Ryou stammered, his head still sore from the collision.

The person opened it's mouth to speak and, judging from the gravelly tones, Ryou guessed 'it' was a 'he'. "My name is not important. Come, we have to get out of here before They find out you're gone."

Ryou rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "You mean those _Tenshi no Tsuki _guys and Varon? Yea… I'll bet they'll be a bit angry when they find out…"

The boy flinched, then stiffened at the mention of Their name. He hissed. "Please, whatever you do, don't speak Their name in my presence. I've heard enough about them without you casually spouting it as well."

The whitenette hung his head. "I'm sorry, whoever you are. Anyway, I'm sorry to ditch you, but I have to go. Sorry," he mumbled, and ran off, but stopped when the person caught his arm.

"Ryou, wait, follow me. I know these tunnels inside and out. I'll lead you out safely," he said, and started walking without waiting for an answer.

"Ah! Wait for me!" Ryou yelled out, running after him. He didn't even stop to think how that person knew his name, or why he knew the tunnels so well. He trusted him. Inexplicitly.

The boy led Ryou through the seemingly endless tunnels, actually leading him away from the light he saw earlier. This somewhat confused Ryou, but he kept it to himself. He just followed the person in front of him.

But after what seemed like hours, he had to stop for a rest. He collapsed to the ground, giving his aching limbs a rest. The boy turned around, alarmed, and ran to where Ryou lay.

"Are you okay, Ryou?"

At the mention of his name, the whitenette lifted his head and stared at the person above him. His hood was now somewhat askew, and he got a small glimpse at the person's face, but it wasn't long before it was quickly pushed back into place.

He lifted his arm, placed his hand on his cheek, and smiled. "You… You feel just like Malik…"

The boy flinched away from Ryou's touch, and instead grasped his arm and lifted him up. "Here, use me to support yourself," he offered, but Ryou shook his head and pushed him away.

"No, I'm fine. I just needed a rest. Besides, I don't want to be a burden… Mariku."

The boy stiffened, stopping in his path. They both went silent. The tension cracked up another notch. When he turned to face Ryou, the whitenette could practically _feel _the suspicion and paranoia roll off him in waves.

"W-What did you call me?" He breathed, his voice cool and collected, but Ryou wasn't fooled. He could hear a trace of panic and frustration there, along with hope and desperation.

"…Mariku. I called you Mariku."

The boy gasped. "Oh gods, I haven't been called that in so long. Too long, in fact. I had almost forgotten I had a name in the first place. Tell me, Ryou, how did you know my name?"

Ryou opened his mouth, intent on asking the same question, but the tone in his voice stopped him. Such emotions… ones that he didn't think he'd ever see again. "Your face. It feels just like Malik's – or at least what I saw of it. They both share that same expression, the one that makes you want to share all of your secrets with. The one that makes you want to protect that person at any cost, and have that person protect you back. And while they don't quite share the same expression of _happiness_, they still make you feel like you're special. That's how I knew, Mariku. You share a bond with Malik, and I, however accidental it may have been, have come to share it too…"

The boy was listening to Ryou's every word, and was still silent long after he had finished speaking. And then… a sigh. "You know what, Ryou, you're right. You're absolutely right. About the Malik thing, that is. I'm not too sure about the whole link thingy, but I am, indeed, the person called Mariku. What I want to know is… how do you know Malik?"

Ryou laughed. "Jail," he grunted, still laughing.

"I should have expected as much," Mariku grunted back. "Come on, Ryou, let's go. We really need to leave this place. I expect Bakura will be looking for you, so let's not keep him waiting."

He turned to continue walking, but stopped when Ryou grabbed his arm. "_Matte_!(1)"

Mariku growled. "What is it?"

"I want to see you. You're face, that is. I won't go any further until I can see what you look like. Please, Mariku?" Ryou pleaded, his head hanging low. "B-But I understand if you won't. I mean, I am intruding…"

The boy jumped. "Oh! U-Um… sure… but you might not like what you see…" He mumbled rather nervously, but slipped his hood off anyway.

Ryou was somewhat surprised at what he saw. Standing there was somebody who looked almost exactly like Malik, with a few differences. His blonde hair spiked up in different angles, and wasn't straight and flowy like Malik's. His skin colour was darker, and his face was scarred almost all over. And there was a black blindfold covering his eyes. How Mariku could see was a mystery to him.

But he smiled, leaned forwards, and gave Mariku a hug. The boy blushed (Yes, the almighty Mariku BLUSHED) and hugged him back. "W-What's this for?"

The whitenette moved back, still smiling. "It's for you being you, Mariku. But… why do you have a blindfold on? I mean, how can you see…?" He asked.

Mariku scowled. "That story's for another time, I can't tell you now. Let's just get out of here…" He said and grabbed Ryou's arm, dragging him behind him as he walked.

Ryou smiled. "Just like Mariku…" he whispered, his eyes drifting shut.

The last thing he could remember was Mariku's face looking back at him, and his voice that drifted through the air like it wasn't there at all.

"B-Bakura…"

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"_Sir, the target has been neutralized, as instructed. The proceedings are going as planned. Shall I give the word to activate the second stage?" The voice was that of a mans, his tones gravelly and harsh. He wore a white lab coat, and had a shaven head, along with a very demeaning posture._

_The man who answered him was no better. He, too, wore a white coat that smelled of anti-septic. He had grey hair that tied behind his head, and a small beard. "Yes, that would be great, Saxe. Bring the results to me as soon as possible."_

_The man – Saxe – bowed," he saluted, and hurried out the door which closed behind him._

_Unbeknownst to them both, a small boy was listening to every word they said. He even followed quietly behind Saxe when he left the room._

_Saxe pulled a card out of the inside pocket of his coat and swiped it in the swiper thingy of the door in front of them. It opened with an impressive 'whoosh' sound and Saxe entered, the boy following behind like a shadow._

"_You! Get Subject Thirteen online now! I want to see it's face before they send it to the lab!" He barked at an unfortunate employee, who immediately typed something into the keyboard in front of him._

"_Sir!" The man saluted, tearing himself away from the keyboard. "Subject Thirteen has been properly secured, just as you requested. It's in holding bay Three at the moment. I'll open the door for you."_

_Saxe grinned his evil grin, and the man couldn't help but shiver. "Good work. I'll notify you when it is time to move onto stage two of the project. Be ready!" And with that last, parting comment, Saxe strolled through the double-doors on the other side of the room._

_What he was met with wasn't exactly _terrifying._ In fact, it was anything but. In fact, _it _was anything _but _an _it. 'It' _was a small boy, huddled in a small ball. His silver hair flowed over his bare shoulders, almost reaching the floor. His back was littered with scars, all an angry red colour. '_It' _was stuck in a cage that barely gave him enough room to stand up in._

_The boy that had been following Saxe gasped, darting into the shadows._

_But Saxe didn't notice anything, instead he walked close to the cage and unlocked the door. "Come here, Number Thirteen, I won't hurt you," Saxe said gently, his voice soft and caring. But his eyes said otherwise._

_The boy lifted his head, his eyes burning with hate. He leapt forwards, gnashing his teeth and clawing at Saxe's jacket. "Get away from me, you cold, heartless bastard!"_

_However, Saxe didn't seem to be fazed by the boy's actions. In fact, he found them quite amusing, judging by the grin on his face. "Now, now, no need to do that. This jacket cost us a fortune, you know."_

_The boy grimaced. "I don't give a shit about the finances of this place. I just want to get out! Please…" the boy sobbed, sinking to the ground. "Please… I just want to leave… I didn't do anything to you guys! Just let me go…"_

_Saxe laughed. "That's not what I've heard. It seems you took out our best assassin. That doesn't happen every day, you know. And besides, we're being _nice _to you. You have no idea what happens to some of the others… and maybe it's best if it stayed that way."_

_The boy sobbed again. "Please…"_

_The man jotted something down on a piece of paper, muttering something to himself. "Amazing. Simply amazing."_

"_What was that?"_

_Saxe's head jerked up. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. What? Did you say you wanted to come with me? Perfect! I was just about to leave! Come, I'm going to have to hold your hand, but that's okay, ne?" He said, stretching his arm out to the boy._

_He looked up, a little confused, but took it anyway. Saxe heaved him out of the small cage and help him just to the ground. He wobbled a bit at first – it had been so long since he walked last! – but used a nearby seat to steady himself. He looked up, wide brown eyes shimmering innocently._

"_Where are we going?"_

_The man shrugged his shoulders. "Meh. I don't know. Around, I suppose. Is there somewhere you want to go, little one?" He asked, leading the boy down the winding corridors._

_The boy nodded his head firmly. "I want to go see Bakura!" He yelled out._

_Saxe froze where he stood. "Um… maybe we can go later…"_

"_No need. I'm already here." The voice echoed off the white walls, bouncing in their direction. A boy crawled out of the shadows, a triumphant smirk clear on his face, hands on his hips._

_The boy gasped. "Kura!" He yelled, running forwards and immediately latching himself to Bakura, his arms around his middle._

_Bakura patted the top of his head. "Shh, Ryou. Everything's going to be okay. Shh…" He said in a comforting tone, his eyes sympathetic and caring._

"_Kura… I'm scared…" Ryou whispered, burying his head in Bakura's top._

_Saxe, who had been quite shocked in the last minute or so, snapped out of his daze and strode forwards, grabbing Ryou by the collar and hauled him backwards, away from Bakura._

_Neither of them liked this that much. Ryou kicked and screamed and bit and did whatever he could to get Saxe off him. Bakura growled, pounced forwards, pulling at the man's arms, pulling his hair, biting him. All in all, they were both trying to escape._

_Saxe growled, and pushed a funny looking button on his fantastically clean, white, chlorine-smelling lab coat. The group was immediately surrounded by more white-coat wearing, chlorine smelling 'scientists'. One of them grabbed Bakura, pulling him off Saxe, to no avail. So the others helped too, and soon, Bakura was sprawled screaming and kicking on the ground._

_The man grunted. "Take him away, boys. I think he's had enough excitement for tonight. It's time for me and Ryou to be getting back." He issued the orders, and they were immediately followed._

_Bakura did _not _go easily. He screamed and kicked and bit everything and everyone he could reach. Those men wouldn't be going to bed tonight without at least one scar, bruise or bite mark to show off._

_Ryou, however, just stared and watched him leave. It seemed hopeless to fight back now. They had them where they wanted them, and would use whatever means they could to get what they wanted. Nothing short of murder._

"_Come on, little one, time to get back," Saxe grunted, pulling Ryou along by the arm._

_But Ryou refused to move. He wedged his feet into the ground, stubbornly staying exactly where he was. Even if it _wasn't _any use to fight, he wasn't going to go quietly. He would do what he could to get what he wanted. And anyone who stood in his way, well… Lord have mercy on their souls…  
_

_He watched the men drag Bakura back, struggling to stop his ferocious attacks. "No! Let me go, you bastards!" He screamed, kicking one of them in the shins._

_One of the men growled, and punched him in the stomach. Bakura yelled out in pain, unable to clutch his winded stomach, but still trying to anyway._

_Ryou growled. "Nobody, and I mean _nobody, _hurts my Bakura-sama!" He whispered softly, yet his words rang down the hallway and into the ears of every single person in it._

_Bakura stopped struggling, turning his head to Ryou instead. The men noticed, and, highly interested, they turned to watch too. Saxe paled. He had feared this, he wanted to get back before this happened, he had tried to prevent this, but he couldn't._

_But he could still do something. "You idiots! Run! If you value your lives, run away and don't look back!" He screamed at the men holding Bakura._

_The men laughed. They thought he was joking. What damage could a ten-year-old make? Well, they were about to get an answer that no one had bargained for._

_Ryou took a step forward, his eyes glowing brightly in the dimness of the hallway. The hall had become two shades darker, but nobody noticed – except for Bakura and Saxe._

_Panicked, Saxe ran yelled at him. "Don't do it, Ryou! Is it really worth seeing them suffer because of one misdeed?" He cried out, wrapping his arms around the frail boy._

_The whitenette just shrugged him off, as if oblivious to the scientists pathetic attempts. He stepped forwards again. "You who dared harm my protector, my saviour, my _friend. _You who dared to defile that which was once pure. You who dared to step over the invisible line of humanity and what lies beyond, you shall all fall."_

_The air around him seemed to glow at his words. It gave him an eerie effect, as if something was watching him, coaxing him on his next move. His eyes glowed brighter now, and it seemed as though his eyes controlled the very air around him. "You shall all fall at my hands," he vowed._

_Something rumbled, whizzing through the air. Saxe felt it before he heard it, and his eyes went wide with fear. He had less than a second to think, and only one chance to take. And without another thought, he took it. Yelling wildly, he ran up to his men and pushed them all down, including Bakura… just as a sword zoomed around the corner and struck him dead-center. There was no doubt about it – it was a fatal wound._

_Saxe gasped as he crumpled down to the ground – defeated._

_Ryou watched him go down, his face blank and emotionless. Then, something snapped and his eyes suddenly brightened. He gasped when he saw Saxe lying face-down on the ground, the crimson blade standing upright, embedded within him._

_He dropped to the ground, covering his mouth, his eyes wide with fear. Tears trickled down his face, however involuntary they were. He had killed – really killed! Again!_

_Sobbing gently, he crawled over. "No, no, no, no, this wasn't meant to happen. No, no, no, no! Saxe, please, say something! Anything!"_

_He pulled the sword out, watching it sparkle gently in the abnormal light of the hallway. Throwing it aside, he laid his hands on Saxe's wound, trying to stem the flow of blood. "Oh, God, no. Heal, heal, heal, please, heal!" He muttered, his hands still over Saxe._

_Then, just as Ryou was beginning to lose hope, a faint green light emitted from his hands, dancing over Saxe's wound, and merging deep inside. A healing power._

_Ryou's face went paler than usual, as colour returned to Saxe's face. Sweat was rolling down his forehead, and his breathing was coming hard. It was no easy feat to heal something, even for the trained professionals!_

_Bakura ran forward, free from his captors, and immediately wrapped himself defensively around Ryou's lithe form. He sobbed on his shoulder. "Ryou, what happened? What did you do? What are you doing to Saxe?"_

_The whitenette looked up, but Bakura's question was never answered. He simply smiled at him and said nothing. He looked back down at Saxe as he was beginning to stir, and smiled again._

_He stood up and walked down the hallway without another word. Bakura stared aimlessly after him. His Ryou – poor, lonely Ryou – forced to kill, and expected to be fine afterwards. But it wasn't that simple._

_It wouldn't be simple for anyone, let alone a mere ten-year-old boy. But he managed. And Bakura knew he always would, with or without him._

_But it didn't stop him from wanting him back by his side. Him and Ryou. Side by side. Partners 'til the end. Just the way it always should have been._

_No longer friendless._

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

"Ugh…" Ryou grumbled. He awoke to see Mariku sitting by a stoked fire, nudging it gently with a stick. He glanced up at Ryou – he wasn't sure if he actually saw him or not, seeing as he still had the blindfold on – then looked back down into the fire.

Ryou crawled over, resting his head next to where Mariku sat, and looked up at the golden-haired boy. "You okay?"

Mariku grunted, not looking at him.

"You sure? You seem kinda distracted…" He pressed on, wriggling closer towards him.

Mariku grunted again.

"Aw, come on, please? Tell me!" He pleaded, pulling at the hem of Mariku's robe thingy. Mariku looked down at him, and he instantly hit him with his secret weapon: the puppy-dog eyes. "Aw… pwetty pwease?"

The Egyptian kept looking down at him. Then, all of a sudden, he grabbed both of Ryou's arms, pulled him up, and stared at him – or, at least, it seemed like it anyway. "What did you see?"

Ryou blinked. "Pardon?"

He shook him hard, and Ryou yelped. "I said: What did you see?" He asked again, his tone harsh and a lot more serious.

The whitenette shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. Unless you mean what I saw just then. If that's the case, then-"

"No! What did you see in the dream? You have to tell me – it's of utmost importance."

"I ain't telling you anything until you tell me what you're doing here, why you helped me, and why you have a blindfold over your eyes," Ryou announced, stubbornly crossing his arms and turning his head away.

Mariku sighed, turning his head away from Ryou. "Fine. Be that way then. I'm sure Bakura won't mind if you died because I couldn't protect you because _you _wouldn't tell me one measly thing. Yeah… he wouldn't mind at all."

Ryou turned back around, looking at Mariku. "Is it that important?"

Mariku nodded. "It is."

The whitenette sighed. "Well, I don't remember much now, but I remember most of the key parts of it. Erm… Well, I was stuck in this cage thingy, then this dude – Saxe, I think it was – came and let me out. Then we went for a walk and I demanded to see Bakura. Then Bakura came from out of the shadows, and I was happy and hugged him and said I saw scared. And then some other guys came and took Bakura away from me, and I got really sad and angry. Then I went all funny and this sword came whizzing 'round the corner and stabbed Saxe. And then I healed him and that's what I remember of it. Which is actually pretty much all of it now that I think about it…"

The Egyptian nodded at Ryou's retelling of his dream. When he was finished, he turned to face him. "Ryou… how many of these type of dreams have you had?"

Ryou thought about it. "Quite a lot, actually. The most recent one I can remember was the one when most of my family died." He made a face. "But I'm not sure if that's actually what happened or not."

"Oh, it happened all right. And so did all your other dreams."

"What?"

"All your dreams, all the things you see when you sleep at night – or whenever else – they are all visions of the past. Your memory is slowly returning, piece by little piece. And it's all because of two things: One – the spell – yes, I said spell – they put on you is slowly wearing out and Two – Bakura entered your life again. He stimulated a few memories, encouraging the others to return too," Mariku started to explain.

Ryou, however, looked doubtful. "And exactly why would you know this? None of my dreams have showed you in them, Mariku. The only time I've heard of you was from Bakura, and that was a question he was asking Malik! How do I know you're not just a spy, sent to find and eliminate me?"

Mariku nodded. "Fair enough. I suppose it's just natural for you to have suspicions. After all, everyone has them, why should you be any different?" He mused.

"Well, I don't really have an answer for that. Except maybe… How about I tell you a little story? Well, about five years ago, I was sent to Them to make a peace treaty between Them and my clan. It didn't quite work out the way we had planned, and I was forced to spend about two years in their company. During that time, I learned about you, and made friends with Bakura. After those two years had come to pass, I was let loose and They agreed to peace with us."

After Mariku finished telling his story, silence fell between the two. A very awkward silence.

"And that's the end," he stated, breaking the silence between them.

"I figured that. And… well, I suppose I accept your explanation. I mean, there's not much else I can do, is there? And… please, continue your explanation of my… past," Ryou whispered, letting Mariku continue with his story.

Mariku coughed, clearing his throat. "Well, as I was saying, most of your dreams are visions of your forgotten past that you, obviously, forgot. While you were in the lab, the powers that you had been bestowed with continued to grow stronger. They were your way of escaping the pain that you came to face.

"The power to heal. That one, you developed yourself while in the lab. Sometimes, they hit you too hard, or cut you too deep, and the pain was too much to bear. So, using some of your own life-force, you managed to find a way to hasten the natural healing process of the body. Of course, this meant that every time you healed someone – whether it be yourself or someone else – your own life shortened by however much was needed to heal.

"And the other one – the one that made it so that the sword came whizzing around the corner – that one was less controllable. It's sort of like telekinesis, really. Except for the fact that it's much more complicated than that. You were able to manipulate the very _air_ itself. You made it bend to your will, allowing you to move things, hurt things, _kill _things. This dark power only made itself known whenever you felt extreme anger, pain, or sadness.

"However, sometimes these were not enough to help you withstand the pain alone. So, with the help of both of them, you created something like an alter-ego to bear the pain for you. He took over whenever things got too hard for you to handle. And he appeared a lot, he did. He appeared in front of me, once. Called himself 'Dark Ryou', or something like that. I didn't take much to his manners," at that, Mariku laughed bitterly before carrying on.

"The appearance of 'Dark Ryou' made you change as well. It seemed that there wasn't enough room in your body to host two beings, and the 'Dark' presence within you slowly began to take over your body, your will. But then, something happened, and 'Dark Ryou' suddenly disappeared.

"The scientists were baffled. They were astounded when 'Dark Ryou' became known to them, and equally astounded when he left, leaving nothing but the person he transformer you into behind.

"From what I have collected, Bakura has made a huge impact on the kind of person you are now. He melted away some of the initial coldness you had in your heart. And when you were cut loose, and your memory erased, that coldness came back again. Now that he is, once again, in your life, that coldness has started to disappear once again.

"Him and your brother were the only ones that seemed to be able to do that. They seemed to hold onto a strand of your emotions, and were able to manipulate it for the better," he finished there, ending his very long speech about Ryou.

Ryou himself was surprised at how much Mariku seemed to know about him. But then, something struck him as strange… "Brother? I don't have a brother…"

"Sure you do. Malik," Mariku replied, then gasped. "Shit, I wasn't supposed to say that…"

The whitenette was dumbfounded. "Malik…? My… brother?! How do you know this?"

Suddenly panicking, Mariku raced forwards, his hand darting over Ryou's mouth. "Shh," he whispered, pressing a finger to his lips. "Not here. I'll tell you when we get out of here. Come on, help me get this fire out." He let Ryou go, preparing to jump forwards again if Ryou mentioned it again.

However, he only nodded. "Okay then, Mariku. I suppose you can't tell me _everything _at once," he said, gathering the logs together.

Mariku nodded, relieved that Ryou didn't fight back. He loosened the cloak he wore around himself, took it off, and used it to pat down the fire, blowing at it rapidly. Once it was sufficiently _out, _he put the cloak back on and stomped out the last remaining embers of the flame.

All before Ryou could get a good look at who he was dealing with.

He pouted as Mariku stood up and pushed his hood back into place. "Come on, Ryou. We need to get out of here. Doubtless Bakura will be looking for you. So let's meet him halfway."

Ryou sighed, but agreed with him anyway. "Alright," he said, letting Mariku help him up. "Let's go."

Meanwhile, by the cave entrance…

"Ryou?! We're coming, Ryou!"

Bakura and Malik poked their heads in the cave and, when they saw it was safe, crept slowly into the shadows…

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

And... there goes chapter seven. I hope you people aren't too angry about the whole 'Dark Ryou' thing. I would tell you something about it/him, but then it would spoil it, so I won't. And sorry about not having much of Bakura and Malik in this one (coughcoughnonecoughcough), but I couldn't think of anything for them to do... --.

Here's the note thingy:

(1) - Just means 'wait' in Japanese.

So... there ya go!


	8. Ruthless

Yaaaaaaarrrrr it's chap 8. I never really thought I'd get this far when I started but... I LOVE YOU ALL! Even if you flame (which I hope you don't...) I'll pity you for not having your own life then after the pity has gone, I WILL LOVE YOU! I don't know why, I just will.

Um... yea... Anyway, right now it's about 20 minutes away from the Live Earth thing on c4(if you live in NZ) and all around the world. So... before I turn everything off, I'll put this up. I updated quick this time! And I think it's time for a disclaimer...

Get ready for a gun tootin' Ry!

**Disclaimer: **I do not, will not, and never have, own Yu-Gi-Oh! I can't really be bothered being original anymore, so I'll just stick with that. And here you go!

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

**Ruthless**

_No one knows  
__My real pain...  
__My real sorrow...  
__My real feelings..._

All was quiet in the halls of Varon's hideout. Nothing was heard except for the pitter-patter of feet against the hard, limestone rock and the occasional grunt or shout.

Mariku and Ryou made their escape, running down the endless tunnels.

"Mariku, wait! We've been… running for ages… where are we… going…?" Ryou puffed, collapsing to the ground.

The Egyptian turned to see Ryou resting on the ground, lying on his side. He hissed. "Come on, Ryou. There's no time for rest. We've got to get out of here before we're found. Either by the _TnT _guys or… something else."

Naturally, this puzzled Ryou. "Something else? Like… _what _else?"

Mariku hesitated. "Well… these tunnels are home to not only Varon's escape club, but other things as well. There have been reported sightings of a pack of wolves, tarantula, poisonous snakes, random hobo dudes, and a brand of spiders that was thought to be extinct. Those spiders are freaking _huge _and have a bite that, if enough poison got in, could kill you within ten minutes. Not that it needs to use it anyway. So… best if we hurry, ne?"

The whitenette blanched, and immediately jumped up to follow Mariku down the pathway. They hadn't gotten very far when Mariku heard something… Something tapping against the rock.

Mariku stiffened and turned around when he heard the clicking of pincers against the rock – something was crawling on the rocks, coming close. Closer… closer… closer…

"Ryou, look out!" He yelled out as a _huge _black-brown spider leapt off the roof of the tunnel, about to pin Ryou to the ground. But lucky for him, he saw it before it could get him, and moved out of the way.

"Mariku, what is_ that_?!" Ryou gasped, taking in the size of the creature. It looked like it was capable of devouring him whole, which was no mean feet at all, seeing as how it was bigger than Ryou himself! (Think the acromantula of Harry Potter, only a lot more willing to attack).

The Egyptian grimaced. "One of the spiders I told you about. Get behind me, Ryou!" He yelled, running in front of the boy, shielding him from view. He cussed as more spiders fell from the roof, hungry for blood… _their _blood.

Mariku muttered something.

"What was that?"

He looked down at Ryou. "Nothing. But be ready. I don't think this is going to be pretty," he warned him.

"You know, it's weird that none of them have attacked yet…" Ryou pondered randomly. Just then, one of the spiders moved in to attack. "Never mind," he said quickly, shrinking back in fear.

Quick as a flash, Mariku drew a sword from the inside of his cloak, and blocked the spider's attack. "Oh no you don't," he grunted, getting pushed back. The spider managed to get the sword between it's teeth, and pulled at it. Grimacing, Mariku pulled it out and jumped back, in front of Ryou again.

"Mariku, are you ok?"

"No time for talking. Here, take this to defend yourself," Mariku replied, handing him a black gun with silver symbols etched on the side. "There's about enough for twenty-two shots, so don't waste them. And don't ruin my precious!" With that, he jumped forward and engaged battle with the spider again.

Ryou looked at the gun in bewilderment. Where had that come from? But then again, where had _anything _of his come from? He was knocked from his musings when a spider jumped at him, almost biting down on his leg.

Surprised, he automatically lifted the gun and fired three shots at it. It fell down, not quite dead, but almost there. And it hadn't made any noise at all. Obviously the work of a silencer.

Mariku glanced behind to see how Ryou was faring. Looking at the spider on the ground, he grinned. "Good boy. Go get 'em, Ryou! Shoot 'em in the eye, that gets them down!" He yelled at him, then jumped to the next spider that dared to attack him.

Ryou took his advice, and shot a big, hairy one right in one of it's eyes. The creature let out an awful wail and fell to the ground, blood spilling out of his wound. He shivered. The sight sickened him, and the scream it let out did nothing to help.

Then, one of the spiders growled at him, and a whole ground of them surrounded him, boxing him in a tight circle formation. "Crap," he said, aiming the gun at one of them.

The spider growled again, and they all attacked as one, leaping at him at the same time. If he had been anyone else, he probably would have screamed and let them have him. But he wasn't anyone else, he was Ryou, and he still had some common sense left.

So he ducked and rolled out of their way, sliding underneath one as it jumped. It was actually quite funny how the spiders crashed together when he moved. Bringing his gun up, he shot at them. Nine bullets. Seven wounds. Five deaths.

His path was clear… for now. He looked over at Mariku to see him fighting with a spider, a nasty gash on the side of his arm. All around him lay the now-dead carcasses of the spiders he had fought with.

Now there wasn't as many of them, about six left. He loosed two shots at Mariku's spider, and it fell down with a flop. Mariku looked over and mouthed a 'thank you' and dodged an attack from another spider.

Ryou mouthed a 'you're welcome' back, and shot another lone spider in the eye. It crumpled down, dead. He then aimed at a group of four, and fired at them six times. The force from it drove him back a few meters, but nothing too bad.

He grinned. "Yes! _Oof_"

He grunted as one of them rammed into him, making him fall to the ground. He turned and fired at it. _Click. _"O-Oh no…" _Click. Click. _"Shit." There was nothing left.

The spider crawled forward, and it looked like it was grinning at him. It crawled over him, leaning down and breathing in his face. Ryou crawled away from it, trying to keep his head as far away from it as possible. It growled, and followed after him.

"U-Um… n-nice spider…?" He stammered.

The creature leaned down, presumably to eat him, but Ryou would never know. Because at that very moment, a small dagger flew through the air and struck it in the top of it's head, and imbedded itself there. It screamed a spider-ish scream, and staggered back, off of Ryou. Another two daggers and about three shuriken flew at it, hitting it dead in the eyes. It wailed, and fell to the ground, finally dead.

Mariku limped over. "You ok?" He asked, helping him up. "I presume you ran out of bullets, eh?"

Ryou stood, a little shaky from the battle. "Y-Yeah, I did… Thanks, by the way. You saved me."

"It's all good. It's not like I could've let you die or anything. Bakura would have my head on a stick. In fact, he would have it on a stake, roast it over the fire and feed it to some werewolf or something…" he chuckled, walking over to collect his silver weapons.

The whitenette watched him limp over with interest. "You know, you're an excellent marksman, for someone who apparently can't see…" he mused.

The Egyptian sighed. "Yeah, well, my other senses help a lot. And I sort of have a sixth sense with these things, or something like that. That's why I don't like guns that much, I can never aim properly. But with swords," he hefted it up and it caught some light and glinted, "It doesn't matter. I can swing it all I like and probably hit something anyway."

Ryou shifted. "Um… right… Anyway, moving on," he winced when Mariku pulled one of his shuriken from the dead beast with a sickening _squelch _noise. "What's this say, the symbols on the side of this gun?" He threw it towards Mariku, who caught it with ease. Especially for someone handicapped like him.

He laughed. "It's what I called it, written in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. 'Rebellion. Property of Yami no Mariku(1).' That's what it says," he said, twisting it deftly with his fingers, throwing it up in the air, and catching it again.

He smirked. "I only use it when I absolutely have to, and when Nemesis won't do."

"Nemesis?" Ryou questioned.

"My sword. Nemesis," he answered, hefting up the blood-stained sword. He scowled, and rubbed it against the spider's body, wiping of some of the blood. "Nasty stuff, these things. I'll never get used to them, no matter how long I wander these tunnels. Never."

Ryou gasped, captivated by the sword, Nemesis. It was finely wrought, the sides jagged and the tip sharpened… sharply. The handle allowed Mariku to hold it with ease, and had the picture of a phoenix carved into the hilt.

Mariku smirked. "Like it?"

The whitenette nodded. "I do. Where'd you get it?"

"I made it," he replied.

"_You _made it?"

The Egyptian scowled. "Hey, don't look so surprised. I have to do _something _to make some dough around here. You know, just like everyone else on this god forsaken planet."

Ryou waved away his comments, still looking at the sword. "Can I hold it?"

He was disappointed when Mariku shook his head, putting it back in it's sheath. "No. It's too dangerous. I don't know how you'd handle it. Nemesis can't be handled by just anyone, you know. It needs an owner worthy of it's power. Sorry, Ry. Maybe later…"

Ryou sighed. "Ok, Mariku."

"But…" Mariku added thoughtfully. "I might be able to lend you Rebellion. You handled it quite well, and would've been pretty great, if only you hadn't run out of bullets…"

He instantly lightened up at the mention of Rebellion. He liked the feel of the gun in his hands, the way he could easily manipulate it to do what he wanted. He liked how it wasn't too heavy, or too light. Just perfect. "_Honto ni?!_(2)"

Mariku nodded. He lifted it up, inspected it closely, and reloaded it. When he was done, he lobbed it over to Ryou, who almost dropped it in excitement. "But you got blood on it. Be careful with my precious! Make sure you take good care of her, Ryou-chan," he said.

Ryou frowned, and looked closely at Rebellion. He couldn't see any- wait. There, just beside the trigger, a small splotch of blood. Frowning again, he licked his finger and rubbed at the blood, wiping it off. "There. It wasn't even that much, you baka."

The Egyptian shrugged. "Hey, it still had blood on it, and that's what bothered me. And I think you're going to need this," he said, holding a gun holder belt thingy in his hand.

"Where did you… never mind. I don't think it's worth asking. But thanks, I suppose…" he reached forward and grabbed the belt, tugging it from Mariku's grasp.

"But you have to promise me that you're going to give those _TnT _guys hell for me, m'kay?"

Ryou smiled up at him, wrapping the belt around his waist. "Of course! … I think. We might go and storm that place, but only if Bakura decides it," he answered, nudging the gun into the holster.

Mariku sighed. "Geez, what're we going to do with you? Come on, Ryou, let's get going before Bakura gets worried," he muttered and turned away.

The whitenette thought he could see a smile on Mariku's face, but he dismissed the thought and ran after him, who was already limping down the tunnels.

"_Matte!_ Mariku, wait for me!" Ryou yelled out after him. He took one last look at the spiders all over the ground, shivered, and ran after him.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Bakura poked his head around a corner, looked behind him, nodded, and pointed in front of him. "Onwards!" He yelled, walking forwards.

Malik sighed. _Always the dramatic one,_ he though ruefully, following after him.

After much arguing and looking around, the two had made it past the trick dead-end and were searching the long, twisting tunnels. They expected the place to be heavily guarded, but were surprised when they found no guards. No nothing, actually. It was like the halls were… dead…

Malik grunted, crashing into Bakura's back. "Oi. Why'd you stop so suddenly?" He asked, knocking Bakura on the back.

He wasn't answered for another ten seconds. Annoyed, he knocked on his back again, and yelped when Bakura spun around and almost bit his fingers off. "Watch where you stick those fingers. I'm hungry, you know."

"Hungry enough to become a cannibal?" Malik muttered, but Bakura waved him off.

"I can tell that Ryou's been here. That means he could be heading for the exit, in one of the other tunnels! Come on, Malik, let's go down this way," he said, pointing to one of the tunnels to the left of them.

Malik peered down it. He couldn't see anything, but an interesting smell was wafting out of it… He blocked his nose. "Ew… Bakura, I can smell something, and I don't like what I'm smelling! Let's just go somewhere else," he pleaded, the smell really putting him off.

Bakura growled, his tail twiching threateningly. "We. Are. Going. Down. This. Way. No. Arguments. Capïche?" He grabbed Malik's arm, and dragged him down the tunnel.

"Okay, okay, Mr. Grumpy. Sheesh!" Malik grumbled, pulling himself from Bakura and dusting himself down. He then followed quietly after Bakura, knowing better than to argue.

Nothing was said for another ten minutes. Malik was beginning to get annoyed, and started to say something, but his words died in his throat.

"What the…"

'What the' was a fitting thing to say. Littered across their path was the biggest, ugliest, foulest-smelling collection of… _things. Spider _things.

"Uh… what the heck? Are they dead?" Malik gaped, staring wide-eyed at the carcasses in front of them.

Bakura nodded. "Yep. And it looks like their slayer left a little something behind…" he said, strutting forward. He examined one of the spiders, and pulled a silver dagger from it. He smirked, wiped it on the spider to clean it, and tucked it away in his belt.

"You want one?" He asked, pulling another dagger from the spider.

Malik shivered. "Want something that's been in _that _thing? No thanks. I think I'm just fine with my fists, thank you very much…" he dragged off. Bakura didn't blame him for not talking any more. He did look pretty green.

"Fine then. Another one for me," he huffed, cleaning it and sticking it in his belt, next to other one. "Your death when if we come across any more of these things. They look pretty nasty. I wonder who took 'em out. I'd like to be their friend," he smirked, and kept walking.

"But I can tell Ryou's been here. Maybe he had something to do with it. Come on, Malik, onwards!" He yelled back to him, and Malik came scurrying after him, his eyes closed, trying not to step on anything related to the spiders. When he did, he would yelp, jump up, and scurry on.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "What are you, afraid?"

To his surprise, Malik actually nodded. "Y-Yeah. I've got a really bad case of arachnophobia. Spiders scare me shitless. Especially these ones. They're bigger than the normal ones, and they have a mad glint in their eyes, and… ugh, I don't even want to think about it," he shivered.

Bakura laughed. "But you are, baka. Anyway, let's keep moving. If we're lucky, and Ryou did come this way, if we hurry, we might be able to catch up with him."

Malik nodded, following behind him, still shaking. The spiders had given him quite a fright, and he never wanted to go there again.

After another half hour of walking, and a lot of Malik self-doubting him and Bakura, the white-haired teen saw something up ahead. Something small… something with white hair… something Ryou-like…

Ryou!

Beaming, he ran towards him. "Ryou!"

The person turned around. It was, indeed, Ryou. And he didn't look a bit surprised to see him. "Bakura!"

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

_About three minutes earlier…_

"So…"

"So what, Ryou?"

Ryou shrugged. "I dunno. I just said it to break the awkward silence we're in now. I don't like awkward silences. That's all."

"…Oh."

Then they lapsed into another awkward silence, broken by Mariku a while later. "I hear someone. No, make that two someone's. Following us. They reek of the spiders. I suppose they found them and decided to stick around for a while. Wait… it's Bakura! Doubtless. I could pick him up a mile away. So why just now? Oh, I see. Someone else is with him."

"That'll be Malik," Ryou grunted, hiding his delight. He wanted to spin around and run towards them, arms outstretched, but that seemed a bit suspicious. "So what do we do?"

"Why are you even asking me that question?" Mariku grinned. "You stay here and wait for them to catch up to you."

"But what about you?" Ryou asked. "What're you going to do?"

Mariku sighed. "Don't worry about me, I'll be just fine. Now, go reunite with Bakura and Malik. I'm sure they'll be eager to see you," he replied, dodging the question entirely.

"But-"

"Ryou!"

He sighed. "Okay then, Mariku." He turned to see Bakura and Malik running towards him, smiles plastered on their faces. "Bakura!" He yelled, unable to keep a smile off his face. "Bakura!"

They both ran towards him and tackled him, laughing happily. "Ryou! We found you!" They exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

Ryou laughed, overjoyed to see them. "Bakura! Malik! I missed you guys!" He yelled. His stomach growled in agreement, and he laughed again. "And it looks like I'm not the only one who missed you guys either!"

"Nope!" Malik exclaimed happily, jumping up off Ryou to give him some air. "Come on, Bakura, let the boy breathe," he teased, pulling Bakura off Ryou.

But he wouldn't nudge. He sighed and let it go. There was no point in trying to move him, he was now temporarily permanently attached to Ryou (A/N: That _does _make sense, and nothing you can say will make me think otherwise!)

Bakura sighed. "I missed you a lot, Ryou," he said. And before either of them knew what was happening, he leaned down and kissed Ryou. Just like that.

Ryou's face instantly turned beet-red, staring at the white-haired male above him. He was still staring when Bakura pulled back, a smirk evident on his face. "B-Bakura?!"

He smirked. "What? Am I a bad kisser or something?"

Ryou's blush turned a deeper shade of crimson. "N-No, it's just that… Well… this is kinda…" he dragged off, not knowing what to say next.

"Wrong?" Bakura supplied.

"…Yea"

"Don't sweat it, hun. There are loads of people like us out there, making out in some random underground sanctuary," Bakura said, getting off Ryou and helping him up.

"Th-That's not quite what I-"

He was broken off by Malik's hysterical laughter. "What did I say?! I told you that you loved him, but no, you didn't believe me! Wait until Yami hears about this!"

Bakura growled, and made to shut Malik up. "Yami doesn't need to know anything. Besides, Ryou doesn't need to be shamed again, it would hurt it feelings. Right, Ry?"

Ryou looked up, his face still burning red. "U-Uh, yeah… whatever you say, Bakura…" he stammered, still collecting his thoughts together. "Come on, you guys. I know the way out of here.

Malik laughed. "Ooh, somebody's grumpy! But seriously though, I think Ryou's right. I can't wait to get out of this place. It's creeping me out. 'Specially those spiders. Brr." He shivered, thinking back to the spiders.

"Oh, you mean those spiders that look like the ones off Harry Potter?" Ryou asked.

The Egyptian nodded. "Mhm. They give me the creeps!"

"Especially for someone with arachnophobia," Bakura laughed, then sighed. "Alright then, Ryou, lead the way."

He nodded, and started to walk down the halls, the other two following behind.

After countless twists, turns, and a whole lot of moaning, they finally got back to where the trick-rock was. He turned to the others, moving away, and showed them the rock. Malik and Bakura looked at each other, then Malik stepped forwards and tapped on the rock twice, paused, then another four. It opened, and showed them another cave, only smaller.

Ryou cried out in happiness. "Yey!" He exclaimed, running for the exit. The other two laughed, and ran after him.

He burst out of the cave, and collapsed on the grass. "Yes! I'm FREE!"

"And so are we!" Malik laughed happily, falling next to Ryou. Hee sighed. "I'm glad to finally be out of that cave. It feels good to be out in the open again. So what are we doing now?"

Bakura flopped down next to them. "We do what we've been meaning to do for a while. Head for the mountains. And this time, please don't run off, Ryou."

Ryou giggled. "Whatever you say, Bakura," he sighed, sitting up. He glanced sideways, looking at the cave entrance, and saw Mariku looking back at him. He smiled, and walked off, hiding in the shadows.

"Hm?" He tilted his head sideways, watching him leave.

Malik propped himself up on his elbows. "Wassa matter, Ry?"

The whitenette shook his head. "N-Nothing, just… thinking…"

"Oh, ok then. Um… there's something I've been wanting to ask. Where'd you get that gun, Ryou?" Malik said, looking at the weapon on Ryou's belt. "And the cool belt, too."

"Uh…" Ryou paused, getting his story together. "I, uh… found it. It was lying by where those spiders were, and I figured I might need it if I ran into any of them, so I picked it up."

Bakura smirked. "Well, at least one of you have some common sense," he teased, earning a whack in the head from Malik. But he was smiling, too happy to be properly angry with any of Bakura's comments.

He laughed. "Yeah, yeah, well, I think my reason was completely plausible. They were scary!" He shivered for the umpteenth time.

Ryou sighed, standing up. "Well, I suppose we'd better go. Is Yami and Yugi expecting us sometime soon?"

The cat-boy nodded, paused, then shook his head. "Well, yes and no. They're always expecting me, but when I told them we were coming, they told us to take our time. Yami knows I don't like to rush things."

Ryou laughed. "Who's rushing things?" He commented, helping Malik up. "Well, we should be going anyway. Come on, Seiko, lead the way for us!"

"Will do," he smirked, sauntering down the path.

---L-o-v-e-l-e-s-s---

Um... well, there you go! Review... please?

SORRY! I forgot the authors notes! So I'll put them up now:

(1) - Yea, I know he's not Malik's Yami, but it sounds better than just 'Mariku'

(2) - Really?!

Hehe... sorry!


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